\ 

\  ' 


\\D 


MIND  AND  VOICE 

PRINCIPLES    AND    METHODS 
IN  VOCAL  TRAINING 


V 


S.  S.  CURRY,  PH.D.,  LITT.D. 

PRESIDENT    OF    THE    SCHOOL    OF    EXPRESSION 


BOSTON 

EXPRESSION     COMPANY 

PIERCE  BUILDING,  COPLEY  SQUARE 


Copyright,  1910 
By  S.  S.  CURRY 


PREFACE    . 

In  all  departments  of  education  teachers  are  suffer- 
ing from  misuse  of  the  voice.  Aside  from  hindrance  to 
the  progress  and  injury  to  the  health  of  pupils,  most 
teachers  fail  to  do  their  best  work  from  lack  of  control 
of  the  organic  instrument  which  all  must  use.  Many 
preachers  shorten  their  lives,  to  say  nothing  of  the  loss 
of  efficiency,  from  causes  which  could  be  remedied  by 
a  little  attention  to  vocal  training  and  expression.  Over 
thirty  years  ago  I  stood  before  an  audience,  in  the 
middle  of  an  address,  unable  to  speak  a  word  for  some 
minutes.  The  horror  of  those  moments  has  never  been 
blotted  from  memory.  That  failure  was  a  climax  of 
several  years,  during  which  I  had  sought  help  from  over 
twenty  teachers.  I  determined  to  search  still  more 
diligently  to  find  the  cause  of  my  condition.  I  made 
earnest  studies  in  this  country  and  in  Europe.  As  I 
began  to  grasp  the  problem,  sufferers  begtm  to  come 
to  me,  and  I  was  led  to  give  my  life  to  endeavors  to  do 
for  others  what  was  not  done  for  me. 

I  owe  much  to  my  teachers  —  to  Dr.  Alexander 
Graham  Bell,  who  first  inspired  me  with  the  possibility 
of  a  science  of  voice,  and  to  his  father,  Alexander  Mel- 
ville Bell,  who  helped  me  to  conquer  many  defects,  and 
to  the  elder  Lamperti,  of  Milan,  who  instilled  into  my 
heart  the  spirit  of  the  old  masters  of  song. 

No  one,  however,  must  be  held  responsible  for  the 
views  here  expressed.  Good  or  bad,  they  are  the 
product  of  my  own  observations  and  experiences  dur- 
ing thirty  years  of  earnest  study. 


305434 


Vi  PREFACE 

The  general  reader  will  doubtless  feel  that  there  are 
too  many  exercises,  but  to  me  the  exercises  are  the 
necessary  means  of  demonstration.  These  have  also 
been  arranged  to  aid  teachers  who  are  often  compelled 
to  change  the  point  of  view  and  to  assign  different  ex- 
ercises to  different  students  according  to  individual 
needs. 

To  those  who  believe  that  more  attention  should  be 
given  in  modern  education  to  expression  and  the  use  of 
the  voice  and  especially  to  the  few  who  have  sustained 
me  in  my  efforts  to  advance  the  neglected  but  important 
subject  of  Vocal  Training  and  Expression,  the  work  is 
committed  with  the  hope  that  it  may  prove  helpful. 


CONTENTS 

I 

Page 

SOME   PRIMARY  PRINCIPLES 13 

I.  METHOD   OF  INVESTIGATION 13 

I.  Is  there  a  Science  of  Voice? 14 

II.   Preliminary  Hypothesis .  17 

III.  Observation  and  Comparison 19 

IV.  Application  of  the  Principle 24 

II.  VOICE  AND   BODY 25 

HI.  VOICE  AND   MIND      31 

I.   The  Close  Relations  of  Voice  to  Mind 32 

II.   Voice  Modulations  and  Conditions 37 

III.   Mind,  Body  and  Voice 44 

II 

NATURE   OF  TRAINING 47 

IV.  EXERCISE  AND  TRAINING      48 

I.  What  is  a  True  Exercise? 48 

n.  How  can  a  Natural  Action  be  turned  into  an  Exercise  54 

V.  CLASSES  OF  EXERCISES 69 

III 

RESPIRATORY  AND   PHARYNGEAL 

CO-ORDINATIONS 79 

VI.  THE  MOTIVE  POWER  OF  THE  VOICE 79 

I.  Primary  Parts  of  the  Vocal  Mechanism 79 

II.   Breathing  and  the  Generic  Co-ordination 81 

HI.  How  Breathing  furnishes  the  Motive  Power      ....  83 


Vlll  CONTENTS 

Page 

VH.  EDUCATION  OF  BREATHING 87 

I.  The  Normal  Centre  of  Breathing 88 

II.   Retental  Action  of  Breathing  in  Voice  Production     .    .  94 

III.  Life  Breathing  and  Voice  Breathing 101 

VIH.   FAULTS   OF  BREATHING 105 

I.  Faults  of  Rhythm 105 

H.  Weak  and  Sluggish  Breathing 108 

III.  Mouth  Breathing in 

IV.  Audible  Breathing 113 

V.  Breathing  too  Seldom 114 

VI.   Collar-bone  Breathing 115 

VH.  Labored  Breathing 118 

IX.  THE  TONE  PASSAGE 119 

I.  The  Lips 120 

II.  The  Jaw 120 

HI.   The  Tongue      122 

IV.  The  Soft  Palate 124 

V.  The  Pharynx 126 

X.  FREEDOM   OF  THE  TONE  PASSAGE 129 

I.  Actions  of  the  Parts  of  the  Tone  Passage 130 

II.   Sense  of  Surrender 131 

•-HI.   Co-ordination  of  Preparatory  Actions  and  Conditions  .  134 

IV.  Application  to  Speech 141 

XI.  PHARYNGEAL  FAULTS  OF  VOICE 145 

I.  Throatiness 150 

H.   Nasality 155 

IV    / 

CO-ORDINATION   OF   DIAPHRAGM 

AND   VOCAL  BANDS 167 

XH.  PRIMARY  VIBRATION 167 

I.  Nature  of  Sound      168 

H.  The  Vibrational  Function  of  the  Vocal  Bands    ....  170 

HI.  Purity  of  Tone 172 

IV.  Economy  of  Breath 174 

XIH.  THE  INITIATION  OF  VIBRATION 180 

I.  Initiation  of  Tone 184 

II.  Initiation  in  Speech    ,.,.,,,.., 189 


CONTENTS  ix 

Page 

XIV.  FEELING  AND   VIBRATION 192 

I.   Vocal  Effects  of  Joy 193 

II.  Delicacy  of  Vibration 199 

XV.  FAULTS  IN  VIBRATION 204 

I.   Passivity 204 

II.   Hoarseness 205 

III.  Huskiness 206 

IV.  Breathiness 207 

XVI.  TESTS    OF    NORMAL   AND    ABNORMAL    QUALI- 

TIES        2IO 

I.  The  Special  Test  of  the  Senses 211 

H.   Sensation 212 

III.   General  Signs  of  Progress 213 

V 

LENGTH   OF  THE   SOUND   WAVES     ....  217 

XVII.  The  Training  of  the  Ear 220 

I.  Possibility  of  Developing  the  Ear 222 

II.   The  Sense  of  Variation  in  Pitch 226 

III.  The  Sense  of  Quality 229 

XVIII.  SONG-AND    SPEECH 7,32 

I.   Elemental  Vocal  Actions  in  Singing  and  Speaking    .    .  232 

n.   Should ^Speechand  Song  be  Studied  together?     .    .    .  236 

XIX.  AGILITY  OF  THE  VOICE  TN  SPEAKING    ....  242 

I.   Inflexional  Agility 244 

H.   Intervallic  Agility 258 

XX.  AGILITY  IN   SONG      266 

I.   Sustaining  of  Conditions  - 267 

II.  Ease  in  the  Production  of  High  and  Low  Notes    .    .    .  268 

HI.  Range  of  Voice  in  Song      272 

;  v, 

HEIGHT  OF  THE   SOUND  WAVES 277 

XXI.  FORCE  AND  *>OWER 277 

I.  Projection  or  the  Tone 279 

II.  Support  or  the  Tone 286 


X  CONTENTS 

Page 

XXII.  FORCE  IN   MODULATIONS  AND   CONDITIONS  296 

I.   Intensity 297 

II.   Volume      307 

III.  Weakness  of  Tone 310 

XXIII.  FLEXIBILITY   OF  VOICE 312 

I.   Nature  and  Causes  of  Flexibility      313 

n.   Organic  Facility 316 

m.   Rhythm 317 

IV.  Metre 319 

V.   Development  of  Flexibility 328 

VI.   Movement 330 


VII 

THE   SHAPE   OF  THE   SOUND   WAVES      .    .  333 

XXIV.  SECONDARY  VIBRATIONS 333 

I.   Overtones 334 

II.   Sympathetic  Vibrations 335 

III.  Secondary  Vibrations  of  the  Human  Voice 338 

XXV.  THE    DEVELOPMENT    OF    SECONDARY    VIBRA- 

TIONS       341 

XXVI.  EXPRESSIVE  FUNCTION   OF  THE   SECONDARY 

VIBRATIONS 352 

I.  The  Relation  of  Color  to  Form 354 

n.  The  Education  of  Feeling 358 

HI.  Positive  and  Negative  Emotions  and  Modes  of  Ex- 
pression       359 

IV.  ^Gamut  of  Emotion 365 

XXVH.   TEXTURE 371 

I.  Texture  and  Character 372 

n.  Tone  and  the  Body 374 

HI.  Realization  and  Texture 379 

IV.   Manipulation  and  Modulation 384 

XXVHI.  ELASTICITY 386 

I.  Degrees  of  Realization 388 

XXIX.   SECONDARY  VIBRATIONS  IN   SONG.  394 


CONTENTS  xi 


Page 

MOULDING  TONE  INTO   WORDS    .....  399 

XXX.  THE  NATURE   OF   SPEECH      ..........  399 

I.   Organs  of  Speech    ................  400 

n.   Speech  Elements  and  their  Symbols   ........  402 

III.  Vowels  .....    .    ...............  405 

IV.  Consonants  ...................  419 

XXXI.  DEVELOPMENT   OF  ARTICULATION  ......  411 

XXXII.  VOCAL   QUANTITY  AND   PRONUNCIATION    .    .  419 

XXXIII.  FAULTS  OF  SPEECH  .............  423 

IX      ^o 

ARTISTIC   APPLICATIONS    .........  431 

XXXIV.  FORMS   OF  ART   ...............  431 

XXXV.  QUALITIES   OF  NATURE  AND   ART  ......  434 

I.   Spontaneity  ..................  435 

II.   Consistency  and  Unity    ..............  438 

III.  Intimation     ...................  441 

INDEX    ...........    .    ............  447 


MIND  AND  VOICE 
i 

SOME   PRIMARY   PRINCIPLES 
I.   METHOD   OF  INVESTIGATION 

While  alone  in  his  garden  Sir  Isaac  Newton  saw  an 
apple  fall,  and  fhe  idea  came  to  him  that  the  same  force 
which  draws  the  apple  to  the  earth  holds  the  moon  in 
its  place.  To  the  philosopher  this  idea  became  the 
basis  of  long  years  of  investigation,  calculation,  and 
experiment.  At  last  he  established  the  truth  of  his 
theory  so  firmly  that  it  has  ever  since  been  accepted  as 
the  law  of  gravitation. 

Whether  history  or  fable,  this  story  illustrates  the 
method  of  scientific  investigation  named  in  Newton's 
honor.  Great  as  are  the  laws  which  he  established, 
"  his  example  of  the  manner  of  establishing  them," 
according  to  Professor  Jevons,  "  is  greater  still."  * 

The  mode  of  investigation  which  follows  Newton's 
example  is  usually  accepted  among  scholars  and  inves- 
tigators as  the  "  scientific  method."  It  may  be  formally 
outlined  in  a  few  words : 

1.  A  preliminary  observation  of  the  fundamental  con- 
dition underlying  some  phenomenon. 

2.  A  statement  as  a  temporary  hypothesis  of  this  sup- 
posed explanation  or  guess  as  to  the  cause. 

3.  Careful  and  extended  observation  and  experiment 
regarding  all  the  possible  applications  of  this  theory  for 
its  confirmation  or  disapproval. 

i  The  Principles  of  Science,  W.  S.  Jevons,  Vol.  H,  p.  227. 


14      ' '      .'  ,    ;  MIND  AND  VOICE 

t4t.  A  conclusion  as  tp  its  truth  or  untruth. 

A  different  method  called  the  Baconian,  denies  the 
help  of  a  hypothesis,  and  observes  phenomena  with- 
out any  theory  as  to  their  causes. 

The  ablest  authorities,  when  the  two  methods  must 
be  directly  compared,  contend  that  Newton's  example 
has  been  followed,  consciously  or  unconsciously,  by 
nearly  all  leading  investigators  since  his  day.  It  is  not 
too  much  to  claim  that  the  great  discoveries  of  modern 
times  have  been  achieved  by  his  method. 

The  two,  however,  are  not  in  such  strong  contrast  as 
is  often  thought.  One  who  follows  the  Newtonian  method 
must  continually  study  the  facts  to  form  some  hypothe- 
sis. Even  after  one  has  been  formed,  he  often  observes 
various  conditions  and  facts  without  any  reference 
whatever  to  his  supposition.  On  the  other  hand,  one 
who  professes  to  follow  the  Baconian  method  must 
frequently  use  his  imagination,  for  he  is  continually 
looking  for  results  and  principles,  and  cannot  help  guess- 
ing as  to  explanations  or  watching  for  confirmation  of 
specific  expectations.  Often  a  guess  must  stand  as  a 
tentative  explanation  during  investigation.  Both  the 
Baconian  and  the  Newtonian,  or  any  scientific  method, 
imphft  patience,  perseverance,  teachableness,  and  an 
honest  endeavor  to  find  the  truth  at  all  times  and  at  all 
hazard!. 

I.   IS   THERE   A   SCIENCE   OF   VOICE? 

When  can  the  knowledge  of  any  subject  be  called  a 
science?  Although  Halley's  comet  had  not  been  seen 
for  seventy-five  years  the  time  of  its  reappearance  was 
foretold.  Such  predictions  cause  us  to  pronounce  mathe- 
matics a  science.  The  power  of  prediction  is  one  of 
the  tests. 

If  loss  of  voice  or  nervous  prostration  can  be  foretold 
of  some  speaker  years  beforehand,  on  account  of  a 


SOME    PRIMARY    PRINCIPLES  15 

peculiar  use  of  the  voice,  would  this  indicate  scientific 
knowledge? 

Another  test  is  afforded  by  such  a  knowledge  of 
causes  as  will  enable  one  to  produce  or  to  change  phe-. 
nomena,  effects  or  conditions.  Because  one  can  analyze, 
water  into  its  elements  or  combine  oxygen  and  hydro-, 
gen  in  certain  proportions  in  a  way  to  form  water  we 
speak  of  the  science  of  chemistry. 

A  teacher  is  weary,  nervous,  has  headache  and  sore 
throat  after  teaching  all  day.  Medicine,  physical  train- 
ing, out-door  exercise,  and  even  a  vacation,  only  palliate 
the  symptoms;  but  one  with  the  requisite  knowledge 
and  insight,  by  a  course  of  carefully  prescribed  exercises, 
corrects  certain  abnormal  vocal  actions  and  conditions, 
establishes  certain  normal  ones,  and  thus  relieves  such 
a  condition  permanently.  Do  such  facts  indicate  a 
science  of  voice? 

Some  think  it  is  merely  the  intuition  of  a  peculiar  type 
of  mind.  Others  believe  that  such  results  are  accom- 
plished by  experience  without  knowing  any  principle 
underlying  such  "work. 

Possibly  the  strongest  test  of  the  possession  of  a 
science  is  the  knowledge  of  certain  fundamental  ele- 
ments or  principles  by  means  of  which  the  phenorflwia 
are  explained  or  brought  into  such  unity  that  funok- 
mental  or  primary  elements  can  be  distinguished  from 
accidental  or  secondary  ones. 

To  apply  the  scientific  method  to  the  voice  implies 
the  finding,  stating,  and  proving  of  some  principle  or 
principles  which  will  explain  the  difference  between  a 
right  and  a  wrong  use  of  the  voice. 

For  such  a  discovery  it  is  necessary  to  observe  care- 
fully the  facts  regarding  tone  production.  Any  apparent 
explanation  must  be  held  temporarily  to  guide  us  during 
prolonged  investigation  and  comparison.  , 

It  must  be  conceded  at  the  outset  that  there  are  many 


l6  MIND  AND  VOICE 

difficulties  in  the  way  of  establishing  a  true  science  of 
producing  tone.  The  voice  is  closely  related  to  life  and 
character;  its  modulations  are  directly  united  to  think- 
ing and  feeling;  it  is  subjective;  its  processes  are 
subconscious.  Many  of  the  muscles  concerned  in  its 
production  are  often  involuntary  or  only  semivoluntary. 
The  organs  that  produce  it  are  among  the  most  vital  of 
the  human  body.  Moreover,  since  everyone  has  been 
using  his  voice  all  his  life  without  serious  thought, 
habits  have  been  formed  which,  however  abnormal, 
seem  natural  to  the  individual  himself.  Misconcep- 
tions regarding  the  voice  are  almost  universal;  wrong 
and  injurious  methods  are  widely  prevalent.  People  in 
general  regard  primary  conditions  of  voice  as  insignifi- 
cant and  its  right  use  as  unimportant.  Can  methods 
applied  so  directly  to  objective^  facts  be  of  service  in 
investigating  such  a  complex  and  neglected  subject? 

All  scientific  inquiry,  howeverTls^ifficult.  Even  the 
hour  of  the  transit  of  Halley's  comet  across  the  face  of 
the  sun  could  not  be  told  exactly,  though  that  of  the  moon 
or  earth  in  an  eclipse  can  be  calculated  to  the  minute. 
Nearly  all  the  sciences  are  limited.  Many  theories  are 
held  tentatively.  Readjustments  are  continually  taking 
place  because  of  the  discovery  of  new  facts. 

Through  scientific  inquiry,  However,  fundamental 
principles  have  been  discovered  underlying  the  most 
complex  and  difficult  phenomena.  Why  then  should  we 
not  seek  to  understand  the  use  of  the  voice? 

It  is  not  the  hope  to  establish  scientific  principles  so 
that  anyone  without  study  can  teach  the  difficult  subject 
of  the  voice.  Intuitive  insight  is  always  necessary; 
long  experience  and  patience  are  required  to  develop 
the  power  of  improving  the  voice.  Vocal  training  is 
necessarily  an  artistic  process. 

All  art,  however,  is  based  upon  science.  The  sculptor 
must  have  a  knowledge  of  anatomy;  the  painter  is  not 


SOME   PRIMARY   PRINCIPLES  17 

hindered  by  knowledge  of  color;  geometry  and  mathe- 
matics are  necessary  to  the  architect.  The  art  of  vocal 
training  depends  upon  a  thorough  knowledge  of  certain 
fundamental  principles.  The  teacher  must  know  the 
causes  of  certain  conditions  and  be  able  to  explain  them. 
He  must  understand  why  he  prescribes  various  exercises 
or  his  work  will  be  uncertain.  If  such  principles  can  be 
found  the  art  of  vocal  training  can  be  based  on  scientific 
knowledge. 

II.   PRELIMINARY   HYPOTHESIS. 

As  a  first  step  let  us  observe  some  specific  voice  action 
with  great  care  hi  order  to  approach  as  nearly  as  possible 
to  some  primary  element  or  explanation  that  may  serve 
as  a  hypothesis.  Next,  let  us  apply  this  to  other  cases, 
that  we  may  confirm  or  disprove  its  universal  application. 

Thirty  years  ago,  while  investigating  the  case  of  a 
preacher,  who,  by  misuse  of  his  voice,  had  acquired  a 
chronic  congestion  of  his  pharynx,  I  thought  I  found 
a  clew  to  a  fundamental  condition.  I  have  followed 
up  that  preliminary  observation  with  those  of  several 
thousand  cases,  and  have  studied  both  the  presence  and 
the  absence  of  the  condition  in  all  classes  and  professions. 
I  have  found  it  universally  present  in  normal  uses  of  the 
voice,  and  either  absent  or  vitiated  in  faulty  or  abnormal 
ones.  By  establishing  this  condition  through  the  prac- 
tice of  exercises  serious  faults  have  been  removed  and 
abnormal  conditions  corrected. 

The  discovery  of  this  principle  has  led  to  that  of  other 
truths  akin  to  it,  but  with  broader  and  deeper  applications. 

In  accordance  with  this  method,  and  as  a  specific 
instance  of  the  use  of  the  voice,  picture  a  child  playing 
in  the  street  as  an  automobile  whirls  around  a  corner, 
and  suppose  that  to  save  the  life  of  the  child  you  give 
a  sudden  shout  of  warning. 

In  uttering  the  exclamation  many  things  may  be  done. 


l8  MIND  AND   VOICE 

You  may  throw  up  one  or  both  hands,  or  wave  your 
cane;  you  may  rush  forward;  but  none  of  these  actions 
are  necessary  to  the  cry.  A  hundred  such  accidental 
movements  will  give  us  no  clew  to  the  primary  or 
necessary  conditions  of  the  shout.  We  find,  if  we  ob- 
serve ourselves  at  the  moment  of  shouting,  that  we 
take  breath  and  become  active  in  the  middle  of  the 
body,  while  the  throat  or  tone  passage  simultaneously 
relaxes  and  opens.  Further  study  will  reveal  the  fact 
that  without  these  conditions  a  shout  is  impossible. 

Certain  persons  indeed  are  utterly  unable  to  shout 
under  such  circumstances.  With  such  the  activity  in 
the  middle  of  the  body  and  the  simultaneous  passivity  of 
the  throat  do  not  result  from  discovery  of  the  situation. 

Observation  of  the  elements  of  such  an  isolated  in- 
stance furnishes  a  hint  as  to  one  condition  underlying 
the  normal  basis  of  tone  production,  and  we  form  a 
hypothesis  which  may  be  stated  as  follows: 
/*  Preparation  for  tone  implies  a  direct  response  of  the 
body  to  the  mind  immediately  before  the  tone  is  pro- 
duced. This  response  consists  in  taking  breath  result- 
ing in  a  sympathetic  elastic  fullness  or  activity  in  the 
middle  of  the  body,  and  a  simultaneous  passivity  and 
opening  of  the  throat  or  tone  passage.  Wherever  these 
conditions  are  reversed,  or  in  any  way  interfered  with, 
there  will  be  imperfect  tone  production,  and  whatever 
tends  to  establish  them  will  make  the  voice  easy, 
natural,  and  strong. 

Although  this  principle  can  be  so  easily  stated  it  re- 
quired years  for  its  discovery,  and  the  student  may  at 
first  be  skeptical,  on  the  one  hand,  or,  on  the  other,  may 
accept  it  too  carelessly,  and  thus  fail  to  realize  its  full 
significance.  Many  in  practicing  merely  pull  down  the 
jaw  in  union  with  breathing ;  but  the  opening  of  the  tone 
passage  cannot  be  voluntary.  It  must  result  from  co- 
ordination of  the  nerve  centers,  and  must  be  spontane- 


SOME   PRIMARY   PRINCIPLES  IQ 

ous.  When  the  breath  is  cramped  or  used  carelessly, 
or  is  managed  at  the  wrong  part  of  the  thorax,  the  throat 
will  be  simultaneously  cramped.  It  will  require,  ac- 
cordingly, patient  perseverance  in  the  practice  of  some 
simple  exercises  to  restore  this  fundamental  condition 
when  it  has  been  lost  or  perverted,  and  to  secure  that 
right  accentuation  which  will  give  strength,  freedom,  and 
richness  to  the  voice. 

III.    OBSERVATION   AND   COMPARISON. 

We  must  be  careful  at  first  not  to  state  such  a  hypoth- 
esis as  a  law.  Serious  mistakes  in  science  have  been 
made  from  taking  without  sufficient  experiment  such  a 
guess,  or  seeming  clew,  as  an  established  principle.  Any 
observation  which  leads  to  the  formation  of  such  an 
hypothesis  is  important,  but  the  basis  or  test  of  the 
scientific  method  comes  in  the  patient  investigation  into 
whether  this  is  an  accidental,  a  mere  phase  of  some 
extreme  use  of  the  voice,  or  whether  we  have  found  an 
essential  condition  of  every  expressive  vocal  action. 

1.  Observe  first,  that  in   certain  isolated  words  or 
commands,  such  as  "  hence,"  "  no,"  "  halt,"  "  stand," 
or  "  fire,"  these  conditions  are  present.    Note  the  dif- 
ference between  one  who  speaks  such  words  as  "  yes  " 
and  "  no  "  well  and  one  who  utters  them  imperfectly, 
and  you  will  find  that  such  conditions  exist  in  proportion 
to  the  agreeable  character  of  the  tone  and  the  ease  with 
which  the  speaker  produces  it. 

2.  Observe  especially  such  involuntary  uses  of  the 
voice  as  laughter,  sighing,  or  sobbing,  or  any  sudden 
tone  due  to  some  intense  joy  or  pain.     In  all  these, 
among  many  differences  due  to  personal  peculiarities, 
to  the  situation,  to  the  degree  of  control  and  tempera- 
ment, we  find  one  universal  fact  —  the  presence  of  our 
supposedly  fundamental  condition. 

As  a  more  specific  study  of  these  involuntary  vocal 


20  MIND   AND   VOICE 

actions,  let  us  take  that  which  is  most  common,  and 
can  be  most  easily  observed, — laughter.  The  subject  of 
laughter  has  often  received  serious  discussion,  but  has 
never  been  exhausted.  Watch  yourself  when  some  cause 
of  mirth  arises.  Imagine  hearing  Mrs.  Partington  say 
"  Oh,  I  do  love  to  go  to  church  and  hear  a  populous 
minister  dispense  with  the  Gospel!"  Such  a  remark 
usually  makes  a  sudden  effect  upon  us.  It  takes  us,  as 
Sam  Lawson  said,  "  right  where  we  live."  While 
laughter  is  different  in  each  human  being,  yet  it  is 
true  in  every  case  that  in  proportion  to  the  genuine- 
ness of  the  humor  the  centre  of  the  body  is  always 
active  through  the  taking  of  more  breath  than  usual, 
while  the  throat,  the  muscles  of  the  pharynx,  and  the 
back  of  the  tongue  become  passive  simultaneously  with 
its  reception. 

When  a  person  has  food  in  the  mouth,  if  laughter  be 
suddenly  excited  he  will  sometimes  have  a  fit  of  qough- 
ing.  Why  is  this? 

It  is,  of  course,  implied  here  that  the  laugh  is  genuine. 
There  are  many  pretended  or  polite  laughs  which  lack 
these  primary  characteristics.  In  general,  they  are 
present  in  proportion  to  the  sincerity  of  the  mirth.  Mock 
laughter  directly  violates  these  conditions.  There  is  no 
additional  amount  of  breath  drawn  into  the  lungs  and 
no  spontaneous  co-ordinate  passivity  of  the  tone  passage. 
Such  things  prove  the  truth  of  the  law  as  much  as  obser- 
vation of  the  positive  elements  in  genuine  laughter. 

Again,  if  we  give  careful  attention  to  a  little  child 
sobbing,  or  to  any  example  of  an  involuntary  expres- 
sion of  extreme  pain,  we  find  that  there  is  great  agita- 
tion in  the  middle  of  the  body,  while  the  lower  jaw 
..,••  and  tongue  are  more  or  less  relaxed,  and  the  tone 
passage,  and  even  the  mouth  are  open. 

3.  When  we  compare  agreeable  and  disagreeable 
voices  we  find  that  the  pleasing  ones  always  have  this 


SOME   PRIMARY    PRINCIPLES  21 

primary  condition,  while  unpleasant  tones  violate  this 
fundamental  principle.  Voices  also  which  are  produced 
with  ease  have  this  characteristic,  while  those  which 
are  labored  do  not  obey  this  natural  law. 

If  the  student  will  make  as  agreeable  a  tone  as  pos- 
sible, and  then  follow  it  with  one  that  is  displeasing,  he 
will  discover  that  he  has  reversed  these  conditions.  In 
the  latter  case  there  is  likely  to  be  not  only  constriction 
in  the  tone  passage  but  also  in  the  muscles  controlling 
the  breath.  ^At  any  rate,  there  will  not  be  found  that 
sympathetic  co-operation  between  the  elastic  activity 
in  the  middle  of  the  body  and  the  relaxation  of  the  throat. 

4.  Again,  if  we  endeavor  to  throw  the  voice  to  some 
distance  —  across  a  river  for  example — such  condi- 
tions will  be  accentuated.    When  present  there'  will  be 
a  normal  and  easy  use  of  the  voice ;  whenever  absent  — 
that  is,  whenever  there  is  constriction  of  the  throat  or 
lack  of  breath  hi  the  middle  of  the  body  —  there  will 
be  a  failure  to  project  the  tone  easily  and  sympathetically. 

5.  If  we  observe  some  of  the  most  common  faults  of 
voice,  such  as  throatiness  or  nasality,  we  always  find 
some  violation  of  this  fundamental  principle  or  condition. 

In  general,  in  all  faults  of  emission  of  tone  there  is 
some  constriction  in  the  tone  passage  where  there  should 
be  passivity.  In  the  middle  of  the  body  there  is  a  lack 
of  that  sympathetic,  full  expansion  characteristic  of 
normal  tone  production,  and  that  corresponding  respon- 
sive or  co-ordinate  passivity  simultaneously  present  in 
the  pharynx. 

6.  Next,  observe  such  an  abnormal  use  of  the  voice  as 
that  of  preachers  or  speakers  who  suffer  from  congestion 
of  the  pharynx  or  from  nervous  weariness  after  speaking. 
Such  persons  have  constrictions  of  the  muscles  of  the 
tone  passage  and  especially  those  in  the  region  of  the 
back  of  the  tongue.    They  have  either  a  lack  of  breath, 
or  they  breathe  too  seldom,  or  at  the  top  of  the  lungs, 


22  MIND  AND   VOICE 

or  in  some  way  constrict  the  natural  action  of  the  respira- 
tory muscles,  or  fail  to  co-ordinate  voice  breathing  with 
life  breathing.  In  a  great  number  of  cases,  —  in  fact, 
in  all  the  many  I  have  undertaken,  —  where  there  was 
patience  and  perseverance,  such  sore  throats  have  been 
corrected  by  establishing  the  fundamental  conditions 
of  tone  production. 

7.  If  we  turn  to  such  persons  as  teachers  who  use 
the  voice  continually  for  any  length  of  time,  we  notice 
that  those  who  are  nervous  or  worried  at  the  close  of 
their  day's  work,  those  inclined  to  break  down  from 
nervous  exhaustion,  and  especially  those  who  suffer 
from  sore  throats,  are  the  ones  where  this  fundamental 
condition  is  absent  or  perverted.    By  re-establishing  this, 
the  health  of  teachers  and  the  qualities  of  their  voices  are 
greatly  improved.     They  will  speak  with  greater  ease 
and  pleasure  to  themselves  and  to  those  who  are  com- 
pelled to  listen. 

8.  Observe  carefully  the  use  of  the  voice  by  ladies  in 
society,  during  their  calls.    Those  who  are  nervous  and 
weary  after  a  number  of  such  interviews  will  be  found 
to  speak  with  a  small  amount  of  breath,  without  normal 
activity  in  the  middle  of  the  body  or  the  right  simultane- 
ous relaxation  of  the  tone  passage.     Frequently  the 
voice  is  softened  by  lessening  or  wasting  of  breath, 
causing  affected  tones. 

9.  If  we  consider  only  superficially  the  most  extreme 
abnormal  uses  of  the  voice,  such  as  stammering,  this 
principle  will  be  found  violated  in  some  way,  although 
the  violations  may  be  varied  and  peculiar.    There  is  a 
constriction  and  failure  to  separate  the  vocal  organs 
immediately    before    speech.      The    stammerer    often 
seems  to  endeavor  to  make  consonants  without  tone 
conditions  or  preliminary  separation  of  the  organs  which 
are  so  necessary  to  accomplish  the  sudden  stroke  and 


SOME   PRIMARY    PRINCIPLES  23 

instantaneous  recoil,  and  in  every  instance  I  have  found 
abnormal  conditions  of  breathing. 

The  first  steps  for  the  correction  of  stammering  must 
be  the  centralizing  of  the  breath,  and  the  establishment 
of  co-ordination.  Of  course,  these  will  not  be  sufficient; 
in  the  majority  of  cases  long  and  patient  practice  is 
necessary  to  establish  other  co-ordinations,  since  still 
more  complex  perversions  of  vocal  conditions  will  be 
found  requiring  patient  and  careful  training. 

Nor  is  voice  culture  valuable  only  for  correcting  de- 
fects in  speech  in  order  to  render  it  more  pleasant  to  the 
ear.  By  training  the  voices  and  developing  right  con- 
ditions in  persons  suffering  from  general  ill  health  — 
particularly  in  those  who  have  some  trouble  with  the 
respiratory  mechanism  —  the  health  has  been  marvel- 
ously  improved  in  a  short  time.  In  many  such  cases 
discouraged  students  looking  forward  to  ultimate  failure 
have  been  so  greatly  helped  physically  that  wonderful 
results  have  been  accomplished. 

10.  We  have  seen,  however,  that  some  people  in  a 
situation  of  danger  demanding  a  sudden  shout  of  warn- 
ing, are  unable  to  use  the  voice.  In  such  cases  the 
primary  effects  of  extreme  surprise  are  the  direct  re- 
verse of  the  conditions  observable  in  the  majority  of 
people.  The  throat  shuts  and  cramps.  The  breathing 
becomes  spasmodic  or  almost  suspended.  Such  'a 
person  is  unable  to  shout  even  to  save  a  life,  because  he 
is  so  frightened  or  excited  that  the  normal  co-ordinations 
of  the  nervous  system  do  not  follow.  One  hi  whom  these 
conditions  are  established  is  normal;  one  who  lacks 
such  a  response  is  hysterical.  The  body  of  a  normal 
person  sympathetically  expands,  all  his  faculties  and 
powers  awaken.  That  of  the  second  is  abnormal  and 
constricted,  and  the  nervous  system  becomes  so  per- 
verted that  the  action  of  the  faculties  is  totally  deranged. 


24  MIND   AND   VOICE 

As  some  confirmation  of  this  I  have  found  that  those 
speakers  who  become  frightened  or  who  are  over- 
conscious  and  worried  about  whether  they  are  to  speak 
well  or  not  are  more  liable  to  abnormal  voice  conditions. 
The  person  with  confidence  is  likely  to  have  better  con- 
trol of  his  voice. 

This  responsive  co-ordination  implies  self-control. 
Emotion  not  regulated  nor  controlled  may  have  the  op- 
posite effect.  The  lack  of  normal  control  over  the  emo- 
tions may  be  the  cause  of  upsetting  this  well-nigh 
universal  condition  of  tone. 

Since  the  hypothesis  has  explained  the  nature  of  per- 
versions and  furnished  a  basis  for  such  exercises  as  will 
correct  them,  it  is  sufficiently  established  to  be  regarded 
as  a  principle  governing  the  right  use  of  the  voice. 

IV.  APPLICATION   OF   THE   PRINCIPLE. 

Having  found  the  fundamental  condition  and  dis- 
covered that  it  is  always  present  in  exact  proportion  to 
the  correct  use,  and  absent  or  violated  in  all  faulty  use 
of  the  voice,  it  can  be  seen  at  once  that  by  adopting  some 
simple  exercise  that  will  emphasize  these  co-ordinate 
actions  naturally  we  shall  have  something  that  will  im- 
prove the  voice. 

Accordingly,  take  some  word  or  phrase  involving  sur- 

Exercisei  ^se  or  exultat^on  suc^  as  "The  sea! " 
Primary^'*.  from  the  first  of  the  following  passages,  or 
"  Hark  "  or  "  Arise  "  from  the  second.  By 
putting  ourselves  imaginatively  in  the  situation  of  the 
retreating  ten  thousand  when  they  first  discovered  the 
sea  and  knew  that  their  homes  were  somewhere  in 
the  midst,  we  can  observe  these  conditions,  and  even 
accentuate  them.  In  observing  these  we  have  what 
I  will  venture  to  call  a  study,  and  in  the  repeated 
practice  of  it,  accentuating  easily  and  normally  the 


SOME   PRIMARY   PRINCIPLES  25 

co-ordinate   responsive   actions,  we  have  a  technical 
exercise. 

"  The  sea!  the  sea! "  was  the  joyous  cry  of  the  Greeks  on  dis- 
covering from  a  height  the  distant  sea.  They  knew  that  their 
wanderings  over  snow-clad  mountains  and  among  savage  tribes  had 
not  been  in  vain.  Those  blue  waters  washed  the  shores  of  their 
long-sought  home. 

Hark,  Hark!  the  lark  at  heaven's  gate  sings, 

And  Phoebus  'gins  arise, 
His  steeds  to  water  at  those  springs 

On  chaliced  flowers  that  lies; 
And  winking  Mary-buds  begin 

To  ope  their  golden  eyes; 
With  every  thing  that  pretty  bin, 

My  lady  sweet,  arise ; 

Arise,  arise! 
From  "  Cymbeline  "  Shakespeare. 

II.  VOICE  AND  BODY 

If  we  return  to  the  first  exclamation  above  and  ob- 
serve further  the  effect  of  surprise,  we  find  that  this 
co-ordination  of  the  tone  passage  and  the  diaphragm  is 
not  the  only  one  concerned  in  establishing  conditions  of 
voice.  Simultaneously  with  this,  the  reception  of  the  im- 
pression causes  an  expansion  of  the  chest  and  elevation 
of  the  body.  In  extreme  surprise  practically  all  the  mus- 
cles of  the  body  are  affected;  hence  in  any  exclamation 
involving  surprise  the  spontaneous  preparation  for  tone 
consists  not  only  in  the  simultaneous  taking  of  breath 
and  opening  of  the  throat,  but  also  in  certain  responsive 
actions  of  the  body.  In  receiving  any  extreme  im- 
pression the  face  kindles,  the  whole  torso  sympatheti- 
cally expands,  the  body  becomes  more  erect,  and  nearly 
all  the  muscles  more  or  less  change  their  condition. 

Do  these  actions  or  conditions  of  the  body  hi  any  way 
affect  the  tone?  Are  they  merely  accidental  or  are  they 


26  MIND    AND   VOICE 

essential?  Most  persons  regard  them  as  of  no  import- 
ance, as  purely  accidental  and  extraneous,  but  even  a 
small  amount  of  observation  will  show  that  they  are  of 
fundamental  importance. 

This  sympathetic  union  of  all  the  conditions  of  the 
body  and  the  voice,  though  a  fundamental  step,  is  yet 
one  of  the  most  neglected  of  all  in  vocal  training.  It  has 
been  the  least  understood  or  observed. 

Many  teachers  of  song  contend  that  a  singer  cannot 
act.  This  view  is  probably  due  to  the  fact  that  action 
has  been  taught  mechanically  and  superficially,  or  as  a 
mere  matter  of  gesture. 

Careful  observation  will  show  that  actions  of  the  body, 
when  spontaneous  or  truly  expressive,  normally  establish 
conditions  of  tone.  Especially  does  that  diffusion  of 
feeling  through  the  body,  always  associated  with  genuine 
emotion,  marvelously  affect  the  voice.  This  diffusion 
may  render  the  muscles  firm  almost  as  a  rock,  or  soft 
almost  as  cotton.  Such  modulation  of  the  muscular 
conditions  of  the  body  is  one  important  source  of  the 
enrichment,  modulation,  or  variation  of  the  sympathetic 
vibration  of  tone. 

A  few  examples  will  prove  this.  If  we  make  the 
muscles  of  the  hands,  arms,  or  face  as  rigid  as  possible, 
we  find  that  the  tone  will  correspond.  It  becomes  hard 
when  the  muscles  are  hard.  By  relaxing  the  muscles 
we  change  at  once  the  quality  of  the  tone.  If  one  will 
constrict  the  face  as  expressive  of  great  antagonism, 
and  then  try  to  make  a  soft  and  gentle  tone,  he  will 
observe  the  artificiality  of  such  a  condition.  The  voice 
and  face  are  mocking  each  other;  they  are  cer- 
tainly not  in  sympathetic  unity.  If,  however,  he  will 
laugh  genuinely  and  heartily,  and  while  doing  so  will 
draw  down  the  corners  of  the  mouth,  he  can  observe 
at  once  what  it  is  that  makes  a  mock  laugh. 


SOME   PRIMARY    PRINCIPLES  27 

Again,  if  a  person  will  make  the  best  tone  he  can, 
and  while  preserving  the  conditions  as  far  as  possible, 
draw  down  the  outer  corners  of  the  nostrils,  he  will 
discover  a  surprising  effect  upon  his  tone.  It  is  impos- 
sible for  anyone  to  constrict  the  nostrils  and  not  make 
the  tone  nasal,  as  a  direct  result.  There  are  certain 
local  constrictions  in  the  body,  causing  co-ordinate 
obstructions  in  the  tone  passage,  and  consequently 
many  of  the  abnormal  qualities. 

There  are  many  other  tests  of  the  influence  of  the 
body  upon  the  voice.  Note  that  in  expressing  great 
excitement  the  body  must  show  the  effect  of  the  emotion 
or  it  can  hardly  affect  the  tone. 

Observe  the  diff erence  of  the  body  in  the  expression 
of  joy  and  sorrow,  of  hate  and  tenderness,  of  anger  and 
love.  In  every  instance,  in  the  genuine  expression  of 
feeling  by  the  voice,  a  certain  condition  is  established  in 
the  body  before  the  utterance  of  words. 

From  these  illustrations  we  can  see  that  it  is  necessary 
to  study  responses  of  the  body  in  order  to  under- 
stand and  develop  right  responses  of  the  voice.  Man's 
mind,  body,  and  voice  act  together  in  expression.  The 
mere  local  co-ordination,  which  seems  and  is  abso- 
lutely necessary,  is  true  as  far  as  it  goes,  .but  we 
must  go  deeper  and  realize  that  many  of  the  primary 
conditions  of  the  voice  as  well  as  its  modulations  arise 
from  the  expressive  actions  of  the  body. 

A  direct  method  of  testing  the  response  of  the  body 
and  voice  to  the  actions  of  the  mind  is  to  Exercise  2. 
render  genuinely  two  short  passages  widely  vdSfSS11* 
contrasted,  or  some  sudden  transition,  not-  Body~I- 
ing  the  difference  in  the  actions  and  conditions  of  the 
body  and  the  effect  upon  the  voice.    When  genuinely 
realized  and  assimilated  almost  every  phrase  has  a 
specific  response  of  the  body  causing  voice  conditions. 


28  MIND   AND   VOICE 

Charge!   Chester,   charge!     On!   Stanley,   on! 

Were  the  last  words  of  Marmion. 
From  "  Marmion '  •  Scott. 

Come !  let  us  go  a-maying 

As  in  the  Long-Ago. 

W.  E.  Henley. 

They  are  slaves  who  dare  not  be 

In  the  right  with  two  or  three. 
From  ' '  Stanzas  on  Freedom  "  James  Russell  Lowell. 

The  mastery,  therefore,  of  the  right  use  of  the  voice 
implies  some  study  of  the  function  of  the  different  parts 
of  the  body  in  pantomimic  expression. 

The  first  expression  of  life  is  expansion.  Almost  every 
student  in  beginning  the  development  of  liis  voice  is 
tempted  to  make  too  much  effort.  In  nearly  all  cases 
this  will  be  misplaced.  He  will  especially  tend  to  ac- 
centuate contraction,  with  little  or  no  sympathetic  ex- 
pansion. Resolution  and  earnestness  will  normally 
cause  expansion,  for  at  first  the  contraction  is  simply 
an  added  expression  of  control.  To  begin  with  contrac- 
tion violates  nature's  primary  law. 

The  first  effort  accordingly  must  be  to  stimulate  ac- 
tivity in  the  extensor  muscles.  The  student  must  realize 
that  any  awakening  of  his  imagination  and  feeling, 
any  genuine  quickening  of  his  interest,  must  first 
cause  sympathetic  expansion,  especially  of  his  torso. 
It  must  also  kindle  his  face  and  increase  the  pulsa- 
tion of  life  through  his  whole  body.  Imagination  and 
emotion,  when  natural,  first  affect  the  muscles  con- 
cerned in  the  sympathetic  and  harmonious  activity  or 
expansion  of  the  body. 

The  whole  torso  must  be  expanded.  This  gives  room 
for  free  action  of  the  lungs  and  diaphragm.  It  also 
establishes  the  primary  condition  for  normal  sympa- 
thetic vibration.  Thought,  imagination,  and  emotion 
attune  the  whole  body  as  the  sounding  board  of  the 
voice,  and  this  work  is  initiated  by  a  harmonious  ex- 
pansion and  a  certain  unity  of  all  parts  of  the  body. 


SOME   PRIMARY    PRINCIPLES  2Q 

Observe  that  the  voice  may  be  apparently  softened 
by  manipulation,  but  a  mechanical  mode  of  breathing, 
or  a  fixing  of  the  throat  is  only  a  trick  and  is  not 
only  useless  and  affected,  but  interferes  with  nature's 
rhythm  and  is  injurious  to  health.  All  true  expression 
must  be  spontaneous.  Artificial  work  is  one  reason 
why  ordinary  elocutionary  training  is  considered  inju- 
rious to  success  on  the  stage,  and  is  offensive  to  every 
lover  of  genuine  and  natural  dramatic  or  oratoric 
expression. 

An  expression  of  the  body  may  consist  of  unconscious 
bearings  caused  by  habitual  emotional  conditions.  These 
are  frequently  the  direct  reason  for  perversions  of  tone. 
It  is  not  only  necessary  to  go  deep  into  the  psychological 
cause  of  these  but  also  to  give  attention  to  their  effects 
upon  the  permanent  actions  of  the  body. 

Such  habits  must  be  corrected  by  direct  exercises 
perseveringly  practiced  before  the  voice  will  permanently 
improve.  In  all  adequate  training  of  the  voice  the  body 
must  be  studied  and  normal  conditions  developed. 

As  an  illustration  of  the  relation  of  the  voice  to  the 
action  and  expression  of  the  body,  note  that  there  is  an 
important  difference  between  acting  in  opera  and  in 
drama.  In  the  former  the  conditions  are  more  pro- 
nounced. Hence,  there  are  a  greater  number  of  atti- 
tudes than  in  the  latter.  The  singer  must  not  make  any 
gestures;  but  any  genuine  study  of  action  must  recog- 
nize the  fact  that  attitudes  are  far  more  important  than 
these.  The  positions  express  conditions,  while  the 
motions  show  more  transitory  emotions. 

From  all  this  it  is  evident  that  it  is  necessary  in  a 
broad,  all-around  study  of  the  human  voice  to  consider 
carefully  the  relations  of  the  body  to  the  voice.  First, 
the  student  should  become  conscious  of  the  intimate 
relations  of  the  two. 

Of  course  the  importance  of  the  influence  of  body  upon 


30  MIND  AND   VOICE 

voice  may  be  overestimated.  Delsarte  and  his  pupil, 
Steele  Mackaye,  held  that  when  the  action  of  the  body 
was  correct  the  voice  would  necessarily  be  properly  pro- 
duced. While  the  effect  of  the  body  upon  the  voice  is 
really  great  this  is  going  too  far.  There  must  neces- 
sarily be  a  direct  study  of  the  actions  of  the  primary 
conditions  of  the  voice  and  the  development  of  the  parts 
which  respond  and  become  co-ordinated  in  the  estab- 
lishment of  conditions.  But  as  soon  as  the  voice  begins 
to  be  normally  produced,  we  discover  the  influence  of 
the  body  and  here  meet  with  another  co-ordination. 

In  getting  control  of  the  primary  conditions  of  voice 
Exercises.  it  is  a  helpful,  if  not  necessary,  exercise  to 
voiced011  °£  render  passages  full  of  earnestness  and 
*°*y ~u'  excitement  or  of  different  emotions,  real- 
izing every  idea  and  situation  so  intensely  as  to 
awaken  imagination  and  feeling  sufficiently  to  affect 
the  body  as  a  whole  as  well  as  to  establish  the  right 
conditions  of  breathing  and  the  tone  passage.  [The  stu- 
dent, abandoning  himself  to  the  situation,  must  allow 
his  body  to  be  expanded,  elevated,  and  lifted  by  the  feel- 
ing, and  permit  it  to  respond  to  the  emotion  and  es- 
tablish voice  conditions. 

Come,  shoulder  to  shoulder  ere  the  world  grows  older! 

Help  lies  in  nought  but  thee  and  me ; 

Hope  is  before  us,  the  long  years  that  bore  us 

Bore  leaders  more  than  men  may  be. 

Come,  shoulder  to  shoulder  ere  earth  grows  older! 
The  Cause  spreads  over  land  and  sea; 
Now  the  world  shaketh,  and  fear  awaketh, 
And  joy  at  last  for  thee  and  me. 
From  "  The  Voice  of  Toil "  William  Morris. 

Hark,  hark!  —  Who  calleth  the  maiden  Morn 
From  her  sleep  in  the  woods  and  the  stubble  corn? 

The  horn, —the  horn! 
The  merry,  sweet  ring  of  the  hunter's  horn. 
"  The  Hunter's  Song  »  Barry  Cornwall. 


SOME   PRIMARY   PRINCIPLES  31 

Aside  from  the  direct  effect  of  emotion  upon  the  body 
or  the  co-ordination  of  the  action  of  the  body  with  the 
respiratory  and  primary  conditions  of  voice,  conditions 
of  health  and  strength  greatly  influence  tone.  When- 
ever the  health  is  good  the  voice  is  likely  to  be 
strong.  When  the  body  is  weak  the  tone  is  weak.  It 
is  well  known  that  the  voice  is  the  most  accurate  indi- 
cator of  the  conditions  of  the  sympathetic  nervous 
system.  The  least  cold  at  once  influences  its  quality, 
and  bodily  weariness  is  immediately  apparent  in  the 
voice. 

Health  will  not  correct  certain  faults  of  voice,  such  as 
throatiness,  nasality,  or  hardness,  but  the  physical  con- 
dition greatly  affects  the  strength  of  tone. 

There  should  be  no  vocal  training  without  a  careful 
examination  as  to  health.  Poor  health  has  great  power 
to  hinder  the  effects  of  vocal  exercises.  Its  improve- 
ment will  not  necessarily  train  the  voice  but  will  make 
it  stronger  and  establish  primary  conditions.  The 
trainer  of  the  voice  must  be  sure  that  the  pupil  as  far 
as  possible,  has  normal  conditions  of  vitality  upon  which 
to  build.  Vocal  training  may  be  the  very  thing  needed 
for  the  development  of  the  strength  of  students,  but 
conditions  of  health  should  always  be  regarded.  At 
times,  different  exercises  should  be  given,  greater 
patience  exercised,  and  occasionally  students  must  be 
given  recuperative  exercises  in  the  early  morning  and 
evening,  such  as  will  develop  the  breathing  and  co- 
operate with  the  development  of  the  voice  through  that 
of  the  body. 

m.  VOICE  AND   MIND 

In  observing  the  relation  of  the  voice  to  the  body  we 
have  found  an  additional  key  to  the  mysteries  of  tone 
production.  We  have,  however,  not  gone  deep  enough, 


32  MIND   AND   VOICE 

and  must  search  for  a  still  better  explanation  of  voice 
conditions. 

How  are  primary  conditions  of  tone,  even  those 
already  discussed,  the  co-ordination  of  pharynx  and 
breathing  and  of  the  various  parts  of  the  body  estab- 
lished for  tone  production?  It  is  impossible  to  accom- 
plish this  by  mere  will.  In  such  an  extreme  surprise 
as  the  one  to  which  our  primary  observations  have  been 
directed,  conscious  and  deliberate  choice  is  not  possible. 
There  is  evidently  an  involuntary  or  spontaneous  union 
of  many  elements,  muscles,  and  organs.  There  are  many 
other  co-ordinations  aside  from  those  already  observed. 
How  are  all  these  complex  parts  brought  into  unity  of 
functioning?  There  can  be  but  one  answer:  by  the 
impulses  of  thinking  and  feeling. 

Extreme  surprise  establishes  innumerable  conditions 
for  tone  by  direct  response  of  all  the  organs  concerned 
to  the  impression  received.  In  proportion  to  the  vivid- 
ness and  intensity  of  the  impression  will  the  conditions 
of  the  voice  be  more  pronounced. 

I.  THE   CLOSE   RELATIONS   OF   VOICE   TO   MIND. 

In  an  exclamation,  or  the  expression  of  surprise,  we 
find  more  than  a  co-ordination  between  breathing  and 
tone,  —  a  more  important  one  than  that  between  the 
voice  and  the  body.  We  cannot  produce  satisfacto- 
rily, by  a  mere  act  of  will,  even  with  the  utmost  care, 
the  conditions  for  tone  established  spontaneously  and 
in  right  unity  by  direct  action  of  imagination  and 
feeling. 

If  we  endeavor  to  make  the  tone  by  will,  there  will 
always  follow  certain  extra  and  unnecessary  efforts  hi 
the  respiratory  muscles  or  in  the  tone  passage,  some 
endeavor  to  pull  the  mouth  open,  which  will  cause  con- 
striction of  the  harmonious  vibrations  of  the  voice.  We 
can  hardly  establish  true  vocal  conditions  by  mere 


SOME    PRIMARY    PRINCIPLES  33 

volitional  effort.  Complex  unity  of  responsive  activity 
and  conditions  results  only  from  a  deeper  co-ordination 
of  the  conscious  and  subconscious,  the  voluntary  and 
involuntary  elements  of  our  being,  and  co-ordinate  re- 
sponses of  all  the  parts  of  the  body  to  these  mental 
and  emotional  activities. 

Any  serious  study  of  stammering,  for  example,  will 
prove  how  easy  and  how  disastrous  is  any  displace- 
ment of  these  primary  co-ordinations.  This  book  en- 
deavors to  show  that  all  right  use  of  the  voice  depends 
upon  certain  co-ordinate  conditions  of  different  parts 
established  by  the  normal  action  of  thought  and  feeling. 
All  misuse  of  the  voice  is  caused  by  some  kind  of  inter- 
ference with  these  co-ordinations.  This  lack  of  co- 
ordination may  exist  between  thought  and  imagination 
or  thought  and  feeling,  and  between  psychological  and 
bodily  actions  as  well  as  a  failure  of  the  two  parts  simul- 
taneously and  harmoniously  to  respond  to  the  mental 
action. 

Vocal  training  at  the  present  time  is  almost  universally 
regarded  as  a  mechanical  process.  It  is  often  called 
voice  "  building."  Teachers  in  singing  usually  pre- 
scribe a  series  of  exercises  consisting  of  scales  and 
simple  musical  phrases.  No  hint  is  given  that  these 
mean  anything.  Many  books  of  this  kind  are  pub- 
lished. There  seems  to  be  an  idea  that  in  the  mere 
producing  of  a  certain  succession  of  notes  there  resides 
some  power  to  develop  the  voice.  Certain  teachers 
make  suggestions  regarding  breathing  and  give  a  few 
points  on  the  vocal  mechanism,  or  recommend  students 
to  read  some  book  on  physiology;  but  rarely  explain 
or  even  refer  to  any  principles  underlying  their  own 
exercises.  Who  has  ever  heard  anything  said  regarding 
the  connection  of  tone  with  the  mind? 

In  the  practice  of  exercises  by  students  themselves 
we  find  still  less  thought  as  to  the  relation  of  mind  to 


34  MIND   AND   VOICE 

tone.  Their  work  is  nearly  always  perfunctory  and 
mechanical.  Those  who  are  faithful  obey  their  masters 
and  labor  on  for  years  with  a  few  exercises  to  attune 
their  instruments,  and  occasionally  catch  a  glimpse  of 
their  teacher's  aim.  The  majority  of  such  students, 
though  beginning  with  great  enthusiasm,  lose  confi- 
dence in  their  own  power  and  in  the  possibilities  of  song 
as  a  mode  of  expression,  and  often  forsake  the  art 
entirely. 

In  my  view  the  fault  is  chiefly  found  in  the  method. 
It  is  not  always  that  students  are  impatient,  but  the 
mechanical  character  of  the  practice  represses  their 
enthusiasm,  does  not  lead  them  to  feel  any  connection 
between  their  ideals  and  dreams  and  the  work  they  are 
doing.  A  true  method  would  awaken  consciousness, 
not  merely  of  voice  but  of  mind  and  body.  Real, 
training  of  any  kind  belongs  tojhe  whole  mag, 

If  the  art  of  singing  is  mechanical,  what  can  be  said 
of  recitation,  acting,  and  even  of  public  reading?  These 
are  not  only  artificial,  but  in  most  cases  the  nature  and 
importance  of  the  principles  upon  which  vocal  utterance 
is  founded  are  completely  ignored.  The  mechanical 
character  of  elocution  is  too  well-known  to  need  dis- 
cussion, and  one  of  our  leading  critics  said  of  the  im- 
perfections of  one  of  our  prominent  actors :  "  Where 
can  he  go  to  get  assistance?  " 

To  some  it  may  seem  trivial  to  discuss  the  intimacy 
between  mind  and  voice,  since  it  is  so  elemental  and 
seems  something  that  can  always  be  taken  for  granted; 
but  the  universal  overlooking  of  true  principles  in  train- 
ing and  the  radical  departure  which  is  advocated  in 
this  book  make  it  necessary  to  mention  a  few  exam- 
ples showing  the  close  connection  between  voice  and 
mind. 

i.  Note  one  of  the  most  familiar  instances:  anger 
and  antagonism  constrict  the  voice  and  tend  to  make  it 


SOME   PRIMARY   PRINCIPLES  35 

throaty  and  disagreeable.  Sympathy  and  tenderness, 
on  the  other  hand,  make  it  softer  and  richer  in  vibration 
and  more  pleasing  to  the  ear.  Joy  usually  makes  the 
voice  purer  and  not  only  causes  expansion  of  the  body 
but  increases  sympathetic  retention  of  the  breath  thus 
producing  a  corresponding  openness  of  the  throat  and 
freedom  of  tone. 

2.  A  lack  of  proper  control  over  emotion  is  always 
associated  with  the  absence  or  wrong  use  of  primary 
conditions  of  tone.    The  many  perverted  speech  melo- 
dies,  such  as  the  so-called  "  ministerial  tunes,"  are 
due  tb  some  peculiar  attitude  of  mind,  to  lack  of  control 
over    emotion,   or    some   abnormal    mental    condition. 
Wrong  speech  tunes,  whether  the  nasal  whine  or  the 
extreme  ranting  or  the  pathetic  drop  of  the  more  edu- 
cated, are  all  due  to  abnormal  emotional  or  educational 
conditions. 

Note  that  preachers  who  suffer  in  health  from  misuse 
of  the  voice,  especially  those  with  sore  throats,  usually 
have  sad  views  of  life.  Those  who  are  abnormally  self- 
condemnatory  or  moody  are  liable  to  suffer  from  mis- 
use of  the  voice. 

3.  Again,  speakers  who  exaggerate  emotion  or  affect 
feelings  which  they  do  not  really  possess,  always  reveal 
the  fact  by  their  empty  tones,  abnormal  or  perverted 
speech  tune  or  melody. 

Such  speakers  who  have  "  tunes  "  or  who  lack  con- 
trol over  emotion,  are  much  more  liable  than  others  to 
suffer  from  congestion  of  the  throat  and  other  effects 
upon  health  from  misuse  of  the  voice. 

4.  Note  the  fact  that  the  careful  observer  can  tell 
anyone's  profession  simply  by  the  tones  of  his  voice. 
Even  an  ordinary  traveling  man  can  locate  the   state 
or  locality  from  which  his  companion  comes  by  the 
peculiarities  of  his  speech.    In  a  group  of  teachers  the 
voice  is  nearly  always  hard,  while  among  ministers  a 


36  MIND   AND   VOICE 

different  fault  is  perceptible.  In  general,  the  voice 
shows  the  habits,  trend  of  mind,  the  convictions,  and 
the  emotions  of  every  individual. 

5.  One  of  the  important  proofs  that  the  mind  is  the 
primary  factor  in  vocal  training  is  the  circumstance  that 
some  of  the  worst  faults  in  the  use  of  the  voice  are  directly 
caused  by  mental  and  emotional  actions.  One  of  these 
is  the  almost  universal  fault  of  too  infrequent  breathing. 
Is  the  cause  of  this  defect  physical  or  mental?  In  nearly 
every  case  it  is  purely  mental.  The  speaker  is  whole- 
saling his  ideas.  He  is  thinking  of  the  complete  thought 
which  he  is  to  utter.  That  is,  his  mind  is  either  upon 
the  whole  subject  he  is  to  deliver  or  far  ahead  of  the 
phrase  which  he  is  uttering  at  a  given  time.  Change  his 
attitude  of  mind ;  get  him  to  think  of  one  thing  at  a  time, 
or  specifically  and  vividly  to  realize  his  successive  im- 
pressions; or  to  individualize  his  ideas  and  introduce 
them  one  after  another,  in  an  easy,  natural  sequence, 
realizing  each  definitely.  Now  observe  the  effect  upon 
his  breathing.  He  will  breathe  more  frequently  and 
more  naturally,  and  there  will  be  a  greater  tendency  to 
establish  true  voice  conditions. 

6.  The  voice  is  connected  not  only  with  the  motor 
nerves,  but  also  with  the  sympathetic  nervous  system. 
Hence,  in  abnormal  physical  conditions  it  is  directly 
affected.  Hoarseness  is  often  one  of  the  first  signs  of 
"  taking  cold."  This  is  due  to  the  connection  of  the 
voice  with  the  nervous  system. 

If  the  sensory  nerves  be  intimately  related  to  the  mind, 
the  motor  nerves  closely  allied  to  the  will,  and  the 
sympathetic  nervous  system  to  emotion,  then  the  right 
use  of  the  voice  must  co-ordinate  all  these.  The  voice 
implies  a  union  of  thinking  and  feeling.  From  this, 
1  we  can  see  the  reason  why  the  culture  of  feeling  is  best 
jsecured  by  the  right  training  of  the  voice  and  a  true  use 
of  it  in  expression. 


SOME   PRIMARY    PRINCIPLES  37 

7.  Animals  with  voices  are  usually  of  a  higher  order, 
and  have  finer  feelings  than  those  without,  and  the 
character  of  the  animal  is  always  shown  by  the  voice. 
Among  birds  those  with  the  gentlest  dispositions,  such 
as  the  turtle  dove,  have  the  sweetest  songs,  while  jay 
birds,    English    sparrows,    crows,    hawks,    and    other 
robbers  make  discordant  tones. 

8.  The  voices  of  "  defectives  "  are  always  imperfect. 
Any  mental  defect  is  likely  to  show  itself  not  only  in 
poor  articulation,  but  in  the  absence  of  good  tone  and 
expressive  modulations  of  voice.    Any  abnormal   dis- 
position or  ignoble  emotion  affects  the  quality  of  the 
tone.    Changes  of  voice  in  conversation  are  not  volun- 
tary, for  the  most  part,  but  spontaneous,  and  directly 
mirror   mental   discriminations   as   well   as   emotional 
transitions. 

II.   VOICE   MODULATIONS   AND   CONDITIONS. 

The  influence  of  the  mind  as  the  primary  factor  in  the 
use  of  the  voice  is  especially  seen  when  we  come  to 
observe  the  natural  variations  of  the  voice  in  daily  con- 
versation. We  find  that  every  change  of  idea  or  feeling,  ^ 
when  anyone  is  natural,  causes  a  change  of  voice.  Every 
degree  of  realization,  every  mode  of  conceiving  ideas, 
and  each  change  in  feeling  are  shown  in  the  natural 
variations  of  the  voice. 

The  voice  modulations  in  common  conversation 
are  not  always  conscious  or  voluntary.  For  the  most 
part  they  are  in  the  background  of  consciousness,  and 
many  of  them  are  purely  spontaneous.  There  is  a  co- 
ordination between  voluntary  and  involuntary,  conscious 
and  unconscious  elements;  and  as  a  whole,  they  per- 
fectly mirror  the  attention,  the  progressive  transitions 
of  the  mind  in  thinking,  the  discriminations  and  all  the 
changes  in  feeling.  Any  change  of  voice  directly  caused 
by  thinking  or  feeling  may  be  styled  a  voice  modulation. 


MIND  AND   VOICE 

These  expressive  modulations  or  responses  of  the 
voice  to  mental  actions  form,  —  according  to  the  views 
presented  in  this  series  of  books,  —  the  phenomena  of 
vocal  expression.  The  study  of  these  and  their  develop- 
ment belong  to  that  subject.  Yet  we  cannot  wholly 
separate  voice  conditions  and  their  development,  which 
is  the  theme  of  vocal  training,  from  voice  modulation. 
In  developing  right  conditions  for  producing  tone  the 
student  must  have  some  knowledge  of  these  modula- 
tions. That  they  respond  directly  to  the  mind,  fur- 
nishes one  of  the  strongest  evidences  of  the  intimate 
relation  between  mind  and  voice. 

Let  us,  accordingly,  observe  the  primary  actions  of 
Exercise  4.  the  mind  and  some  of  the  expressive  actions 
v^ModSa-  of  modulations  of  the  voice  which  they 
tions.  directly  cause  in  simple  conversation,  and 

also  in  reading  aloud  some  short  passage.  To  manifest 
the  meaning  of  such  a  poem  as  the  following  demands 
the  exercise  of  certain  simple  but  important  actions  of 
the  mind  and  modulations  of  the  voice. 

THE  FRONTIERSMAN 

The  suns  of  summer  seared  his  skin, 

The  cold  his  blood  congealed; 

The  forest  giants  blocked  his  way; 

The  stubborn  acres'  yield 

He  wrenched  from  them  by  dint  of  arm, 

And  grim  old  Solitude 

Broke  bread  with  him  and  shared  his  cot 

Within  the  cabin  rude. 

The  gray  rocks  gnarled  his  massive  hands; 

The  north  wind  shook  his  frame ; 

The  wolf  of  hunger  bit  him  oft; 

The  world  forgot  his  name; 

But  'mid  the  lurch  and  crash  of  trees, 

Within  the  clearing's  span 

Where  now  the  bursting  wheat-heads  dip, 

The  Fates  turned  out  —  a  man ! 

Richard  Wightman. 


SOME   PRIMARY    PRINCIPLES  39 

MOUNTAIN  VERSES 

Peace  in  the  wooded  stillness  of  the  night, 
And  in  the  murmur  of  the  waters,  peace. 
The  world's  hot  heart  in  wonder  seems  to  cease 
From  beating,  lulled  by  far-off,  starry  light. 
Lake,  forest,  fish  that  swims  and  bird  that  flies, 
Wild  beast,  perchance  that  on  the  morrow  dies  — 
Peace  rests  on  all. 

Yet  is  there  unrest  in  my  inmost  soul  — 
A  nameless  yearning  for  an  unknown  goal, 

A  low,  insistent  call. 

Eellman. 

The  first  action  of  the  mind  to  be  noted  is  attention 
or  concentration.  This  requires  a  pause.  A  period  of 
silence,  before  a  word  or  phrase  is  spokejvdenoiesJlia^ 
the  speaker  is  receiving  an  impression.  (A  definite  touch 
on  the  central  vowel  of  the  principal  word  of  the  phrase 
expressing  the  impression  received  during  the  pause 
indicates  the  special  point  where  attention  is  centred. 
The  degree  of  vigor  of  this  accent  expresses  the  de- 
gree of  attention,  the  definiteness  of  the  impression,  and 
the  intensity  of  feeling.  A^ 

The  mind,  in  passing  naturally  from  one  impression 
to  another,  by  the  law  of  association  of  ideas,  makes  a 
progressive  transition  which  causes  a  change  of  pitch 
between  phrases  hi  natural  conversation. 

Inflexion  expresses  the  relation  of  words  or  ideas 
to  one  another,  or  the  attitude  of  the  mind  toward 
what  is  said.  A  rising  inflexion  shows  a  suspensive 
attitude  of  mind  or  a  looking  forward ;  a  falling  inflexion 
a  sense  of  completion  or  an  assertive  mental  action. 
Inflexions  are  lengthened  to  reveal  greater  earnestness, 
and  become  abrupt  to  show  more  vigorous  control. 
They  are  straight  to  express  dignity,  and  circumflective 
or  crooked  to  express  mischief,  sarcasm,  or  some 
patronizing,  familiar,  or  undignified  action  of  the  mind. 
Imagination  and  feeling  are  revealed  by  modulations  of 
the  primary  vibrations  of  the  voice.  The  degree  of 


40  MIND   AND   VOICE 

volume  expresses  the  degree  of  demonstrativeness. 
The  emotional  modulation  of  the  rhythmic  pulsations  or 
movements  reveals  the  relative  value  of  successive  ideas. 
Accordingly,  these  expressive  modulations  when  analyzed 
are  found  to  reveal  directly  specific  actions  of  the  mind, 
and  their  mental  character  can  be  easily  recognized  by 
any  close  observer  of  the  phenomena  of  conversation. 

These  few  simple  variations  and  combinations  con- 
stitute the  vocabulary  of  vocal  expression.  How  do  they 
differ  from  the  conditional  responses  of  the  voice  to  the 
mind?  Some  may  be  convinced  that  such  expressional 
modulations  are  mental,  and  yet  feel  that  any  training  is 
necessarily  mechanical. 

If  we  return  once  more  to  a  study  of  surprise  we  find 
that  the  receiving  of  the  impression  causes  certain 
actions,  and  the  greater  the  impression  the  deeper  and 
the  more  strongly  accentuated  will  the  voice  conditions 
be  established.  The  degree  of  surprise,  excitement,  or 
emotion  directly  determines  the  degree  of  these  pre- 
paratory conditions. 

These  voice  conditions  are  retention  of  breath,  the 
opening  of  the  tone  passage,  and  various  co-ordina- 
tions or  sympathetic  relationship  of  parts,  which  are 
primarily  necessary  in  the  production  of  tone. 

They  are  established  by  actions  of  the  mind  and  must 
precede  expressive  modulations  of  the  voice.  For  ex- 
ample, during  a  pause  there  is  not  only  the  receiving 
of  an  impression  but  in  proportion  to  its  definiteness, 
and  especially  the  emotional  realization  of  it,  will  there 
be  reception  of  breath,  sympathetic  expansion  of  the 
body  and  opening  of  the  tone  passage. 

The  student  should  settle  this  matter  definitely  in  his 
Exercise  s.  mind  by  taking  the  preceding  again,  or  some 
voic?cond£d  other  passage  with  vivid  ideas,  accentuating 
tions-  attention  so  strongly,  as  to  receive  definite 

individual  impressions.  Note  that  the  actions  of  the 


SOME   PRIMARY   PRINCIPLES  41 

mind  not  only  cause  voice  modulations  but  correlate  the 
parts  concerned  in  tone  production  and  establish  right 
voice  conditions,  such  as,  control  of  breath  and  openness 
of  the  tone  passage. 

A  SEA  STORY 
Silence.     A  while  ago 

Shrieks  went  up  piercingly; 
But  now  is  the  ship  gone  down; 

Good  ship,  well  manned,  was  she. 
There 's  a  raft  that 's  a  chance  of  life  for  one, 

This  day  upon  the  sea. 
A  chance  for  one  of  two ; 

Young,  strong,  are  he  and  he, 
Just  in  the  manhood  prime, 

The  comelier,  verily, 
For  the  wrestle  with  wind  and  weather  and  wave, 

In  the  life  upon  the  sea. 
One  of  them  has  a  wife 

And  little  children  three; 
Two  that  can  toddle  and  lisp, 

And  a  suckling  on  the  knee: 
Naked  they  '11  go,  and  hunger  sore, 

If  he  be  lost  at  sea. 
One  has  a  dream  of  home, 

A  dream  that  well  may  be: 
He  never  has  breathed  it  yet; 

She  never  has  known  it,  she. 
But  some  one  will  be  sick  at  heart 

If  he  be  lost  at  sea. 
"  Wife  and  kids  at  home!  - 

Wife,  kids,  nor  home  has  he !  — 
Give  us  a  chance,  Bill!  "    Then, 
"All  right,  Jem!"     Quietly 
A  man  gives  up  his  life  for  a  man, 

This  day  upon  the  sea.  Emily  H.  Hickey. 

"  Hark,  how  each  giant  oak  and  desert-cave 

Sighs  to  the  torrent's  awful  voice  beneath ! 
O'er  thee,  O  King !  their  hundred  arms  they  wave, 

Revenge  on  thee  in  hoarser  murmurs  breathe ; 
Vocal  no  more,  since  Cambria's  fatal  day, 
To  high-born  Hoel's  harp,  or  soft  Llewellyn's  lay. 
M  The  Bard  "  Thomas  Gray. 


42  MIND   AND   VOICE 

After  a  little  observation  anyone  can  see  that  voice 
conditions  depend  primarily  upon  a  mental  cause.  A 
condition  of  voice  is  as  much  the  direct  effect  of  the  mind 
as  an  expressive  modulation.  Unless  these  conditions 
are  established  by  the  mind  the  expressive  modu- 
lations, such  as  touch,  change  of  pitch,  inflexion,  and 
tone  color  or  movement  will  not  follow. 

In  our  future  studies  the  mental  and  emotional  cause 
of  voice  conditions  will  be  still  more  apparent.  It  is 
practically  impossible  to  establish  voice  conditions 
mechanically  by  direct  action  of  the  will.  Not  only 
voluntary  but  involuntary  muscles  are  concerned.  There 
is  a  complex  action  of  nerves  and  muscles  which  can  be 
awakened  only  by  right  co-ordination  through  the  stimu- 
lation of  thinking,  imagination,  and  feeling.  Primary 
conditions  of  voice  are  spontaneously,  involuntarily, 
and  often  unconsciously  established  by  those  of  thought 
and  emotion;  but  when  we  endeavor  to  make  a  tone 
merely  mechanical  or  voluntary,  independently  of 
thought  or  the  responsive  conditions  of  feeling,  these 
subconscious  processes  of  the  whole  organism  are 
either  absent  or  perverted  and  the  tone  becomes 
abnormal. 

-  In  this  book  the  voice  is  always  considered  as  de- 
pendent upon  thinking  and  feeling.  In  the  voice 
there  is  a  reflection  of  every  act  of  the  mind,  the  char- 
acter of  the  emotion,  the  degree  of  control  over  it,  the 
imaginative  realization  or  animation,  the  traits  of 
character,  the  poise  of  the  speaker.  All  these  and 
other  conditions,  such  as  the  degree  of  discrimina- 
tion or  of  concentration,  the  attitude  of  the  speaker's 
mind  toward  his  thought  or  his  audience,  his  purpose, 
his  sincerity  and  earnestness,  are  revealed  in  the  con- 
ditions as  well  as  in  the  qualities  and  modulations  of  the 
voice. 

It  is  not  denied  that  merely  mechanical  work  upon 


SOME    PRIMARY    PRINCIPLES  43 

the  voice  may  at  times  accomplish  good  results,  but  this 
is  because  the  student  is  unconsciously  awakened  and 
does  not  practice  his  exercises  in  a  purely  mechanical 
way.  His  love  of  his  work,  his  endeavor  to  get  hold  of  the 
principle,  may  lead  him  unknowingly  to  create  an  image 
in  his  mind,  and  his  imagination,  emotion,  and  feeling 
may  supplement  the  ordinary  results  of  a  mechanical 
method.  But  why  leave  the  student  without  specific 
directions  in  this  regard?  Without  any  explanation  of 
the  real  principles  involved?  Why  do  so  many  beauti- 
ful singers  have  disagreeable  voices  in  conversation? 
Is  it  not  because  their  vocal  training  has  been  ex- 
ternal and  the  result  of  artificial  manipulation?  Their 
singing  of  songs  has  little  to  do  with  their  daily  ex- 
periences. Singing  is  to  them  a  routine  performance, 
not  the  expression  of  deepest  ideals  and  emotions. 
All  the  arts  primarily  belong  to  expression,  and  the  arts 
of  song,  of  speaking,  of  acting,  of  recitation,  and  of 
preaching  are  founded  upon  direct  manifestation  of 
thought  and  feeling  through  the  body  and  the  voice. 
If  this  is  true  how  can  we  neglect  the  direct  awaken- 
ing of  imagination  and  feeling?  Man's  voice  is  not  a 
machine,  but  a  living  part  of  himself.  The  nerves  that 
produce  it  are  directly  connected  with  the  deepest  motor 
centres  and  processes  of  thought  and  emotion. 

In  my  judgment  the  reason  why  the  improvement  of 
the  voice  is  so  slow  a  process  with  teachers  of  both 
singing  and  speaking  is  because  the  methods  of  training 
are  mechanical.  There  has  been  no  special  study  of  the 
psychology  of  exercises,  no  effort  to  associate  an  exercise 
with  an  awakening  of  imagination  and  feeling  or  to  co- 
ordinate the  subconscious  with  the  conscious,  the  in- 
voluntary and  spontaneous  with  voluntary  conditions. 

The  improvement  of  the  voice  should  always  be  as- ) 
sociated  with  the  development  of  imagination  and  feel-  ! 
ing.  When  it  is  remembered  that  all  great  physiologists 


44  MIND   AND   VOICE 

declare  that  vocal  should  precede  language  training ; 
when  it  is  understood  that  the  voice  expresses  the  first 
actions  of  the  mind,  in  the  process  of  development,  it 
is  surprising  that  the  psychological  bearings  of  vocal 
training  have  not  received  more  attention.  Notwith- 
standing the  plea  of  the  physiologists,  the  work  of  vocal 
training  is  still  overlooked  or  totally  disregarded  hi  most 
schools. 

III.   MIND,    BODY,   AND   VOICE. 

Not  only  have  we  found  our  primary  hypothesis  true, 
but  study  of  it  has  led  to  the  discovery  of  other  and 
deeper  co-ordinations.  CXhe  voice  is  dependent  upon 
the  body,  and  both  voice  and  body  upon  the  mind.*)  It 
is  in  the  actions  of  the  mind  that  we  find  the  source  of 
all  co-ordinations.  Improvement  of  voice  or  body 
without  attention  to  the  mind  is  folly.  Mental  co- 
ordination, when  left  to  itself,  may  or  may  not  follow, 
but  the  results  will  be  inadequate  at  any  rate. 

We  shall  find  in  the  course  of  our  studies  a  co-ordina- 
tion between  the  action  of  the  vocal  bands  and  the 
diaphragm ;  another  between  accessory  and  funda- 
mental vibrations  in  tone ;  another  between  vowels  and 
consonants,  and  many  other  co-ordinations.  All  of  these 
must  be  secured  by  stimulating  their  mental  cause. 
While  local  study  is  absolutely  necessary,  while  part  must 
be  brought  into  direct  union  with  part  in  a  definite, 
technical  exercise,  still  this  local  action  must  be  per- 
formed simultaneously  with  a  deeper  co-ordination  of 
the  actions  of  the  mind. 

It  will  also  become  apparent  that  a  disarrangement 
of  certain  natural  co-ordinations  is  the  basis  of  all  great 
faults,  even  of  the  most  extreme  impediments  of  speech. 
Mere  mechanical  work  upon  these  co-ordinations  will 
not  restore  or  develop  them. 

1  See  psychic  elements  in  training  in  the  author's  "  Principles  of  Training." 


SOME    PRIMARY    PRINCIPLES  45 

On  the  other  hand,  mental  actions  alone  or  even  the 
securing  of  an  adequate  impression  will  not  necessarily 
restore  co-ordination  once  perverted  by  bad  habits. 
But  this  does  not  disprove  the  fact  that  originally  these 
conditions  were  direct  responses  to  the  mind.  In  all 
training  there  must  be  enjoyment,  some  awakening  of 
the  whole  being.  A  mere  drudging  performance  is 
purely  local  and  accomplishes  but  little  even  in  physical 
training.  An  unenjoyed  exercise  will  have  little  influ- 
ence over  the  general  health  and  may  be  injurious.  If 
children  are  to  receive  benefit  from  an  exercise  or  game, 
or  from  any  phase  of  out-door  life  they  must  enjoy  it. 
There  must  be  a  hearty  participation  even  in  play. 

This  principle  applies  still  more  to  the  voice  than  to 
the  development  of  health.  The  voice  is  being  trained 
not  merely  for  health  but  to  express  thoughts  and  feel- 
ings. Physical  exercise  is  a  part  of  the  life  of .  the 
individual.  The  lungs  breathe  for  the  support  of  life 
but  when  we  use  this  breathing  for  the  production  of 
tone,  a  more  conscious  and  voluntary  element  is  intro- 
duced. The  vocal  bands  move  with  every  breath  we 
take,  but  are  not  brought  together  to  the  same  ex- 
tent or  in  the  same  way  as  in  the  production  of  tone. 
The  producing  of  voice  is  more  or  less  a  voluntary, 
conscious,  and  rational  act. 

Every  one  of  these  facts  ought  not  only  to  be  observed 
but  also  to  be  directly  demonstrated  by  some  Exercise  6. 
exercise.  Render  a  passage  full  of  fervor, 
and  note  that  in  proportion  to  the  depth  of 
activity  in  a  man's  being  the  whole  body  as  well  as  the 
vocal  mechanism  is  brought  into  unity  with  each  idea 
in  a  rhythmic  sequence. 

Arise,  away,  for  the  King;  speed  away,  speed  away; 
Ride,  ride,  with  red  spur,  there  is  death  in  delay; 
Race,  race  for  your  life  ere  the  breaking  of  day! 


46  MIND   AND   VOICE 

"Here  it  is,  gentlemen!  Walk  up!  walk  up,  gentlemen!  walk 
up !  walk  up !  Here  is  the  superior  stuff !  Here  is  the  unadulterated 
ale  of  Father  Adam!  better  than  cognac,  strong  beer,  or  wine  at 
any  price :  here  it  is  by  the  hogshead  or  the  single  glass,  and  not  a 
cent  to  pay.  Walk  up,  gentlemen,  walk  up  and  help  yourselves!  " 
"  Town  Pump  "  Hawthorne. 

Hark!  fast  by  the  window  the  rushing  winds  go, 
To  the  ice-cumbered  gorges,  the  vast  seas  of  snow! 
There  the  torrents  drive  upward  their  rock-strangled  hum ; 
There  the  avalanche  thunders  the  hoarse  torrent  dumb. 
—  I  come,  O  ye  mountains !    Ye  torrents,  I  come  1 
From  "  Switzerland  "  Matthew  Arnold. 

PEACE. 

Awake,  awake,  the  stars  are  pale,  the  east  is  russet  gray: 
They  fade,  behold  the  phantoms  fade,  that  kept  the  gates  of  day. 
Throw  wide  the  burning  valves,  and  let  the  golden  streets  be  free, 
The  morning  watch  is  past  —  the  watch  of  evening  shall  not  be. 

Put  off,  put  off  your  mail,  ye  kings,  and  beat  your  brands  to  dust, 
A  surer  grasp  your  hands  must  know,  your  hearts  a  better  trust; 
Nay,  bend  aback  the  lance's  point  and  break  the  helmet  bar; 
A  noise  is  on  the  morning  winds,  but  not  the  noise  of  war. 

Among  the  grassy  mountain  paths  the  glittering  troops  increase ; 
They  come,  They  come,  — How  fair  their  feet  —  they  come  that 

publish  peace. 

Yea,  victory!  fair  victory!  our  enemies'  and  ours! 
And  all  the  clouds  are  clasped  in  light,  and  all  the  earth  with  flowers. 

Ah,  still  depressed  and  dim  with  dew ;  but  yet  a  little  while, 
And  radiant  with  the  deathless  rose  the  wilderness  shall  smile; 
And  every  tender  living  thing  shall  feed  by  streams  of  rest; 
Nor  lamb  shall  from  the  fold  be  lost,  nor  nursling  from  the  nest. 

For  aye,  the  time  of  wrath  is  past,  and  near  the  time  of  rest, 
And  honor  binds  the  brow  of  man,  and  faithfulness  his  breast,  — 
Behold,  the  time  of  wrath  is  past,  and  righteousness  shall  be, 

And  the  wolf  is  dead  in  Arcady,  and  the  Dragon  in  the  sea! 

John  Ruskin. 


II 

NATURE  OF  TRAINING 

An  understanding  of  the  processes  of  tone  production 
and  even  of  the  nature,  function,  and  relation  of  the  parts 
concerned  in  producing  tone,  though  very  necessary  as  a 
preliminary  step,  will  not  of  itself  improve  the  voice. 
This  book  is  not  a  mere  discussion  of  the  processes  of 
tone  production,  but  is  a  practical  work  upon  the  train- 
ing and  improvement  of  the  voice.  Accordingly,  it  is 
necessary  to  recognize  in  some  measure  a  broader 
science  —  that  of  training.1 

Training  is  a  specific  application  of  the  processes  of 
nature  to  the  improvement  of  an  individual  organism. 
After  ages  of  observation  and  investigation  man  has 
come  to  understand  something  of  the  progressive  un- 
foldment  which  is  as  universal  as  life.  He  has  dis- 
covered some  of  the  laws  that  govern  the  processes  of 
growth  and  development.  He  has  found  everywhere 
two  opposing  tendencies,  an  upward  and  a  downward 
one;  that  organisms  under  certain  circumstances  may 
degenerate,  but  by  exercises  can  be  so  developed  as 
to  discharge  their  functions  more  adequately.  Man 
has  applied  the  laws  of  nature  and  learned  how  to  com- 
bine two  different  fruits  and  make  a  new  one  far  better 
than  either  of  the  originals.  He  is  able  so  to  train 
animals  as  to  perform  feats  of  strength  and  skill. 
Though  strangely  slow  to  apply  these  laws  to  his  own 
development  he  has  learned  in  some  measure  how  to 
improve  his  own  organism.  Training  is  a  process  of  ^ 

1  The  reader  will  find  a  more  adequate  and  complete  discussion  of  this  science 
in  the  author's  hook  "  Principles  of  Training." 


48  MIND   AND   VOICE 

preventing  perversions  or  degeneracy,  of  establishing 
normal  conditions,  and  stimulating  advancement  in  ac- 
cordance with  the  laws  of  growth  and  development. 


IV.   EXERCISE   AND   TRAINING 

The  training  of  the  voice  is  based  on  an  understanding 
of  the  vocal  mechanism,  and  especially  of  the  relation 
of  part  with  part  in  producing  tone. 

The  whole  subject  of  training  is  misconceived.  To 
many  any  movement  or  action,  however  reckless  or 
careless,  is  an  exercise.  Even  the  best  and  most  care- 
fully prescribed  exercise,  when  practiced  without  thought 
or  specific  attention  to  fundamental  conditions,  may 
produce  an  effect  directly  opposite  to  that  intended. 

Especially  are  such  misconceptions  found  in  the 
development  of  the  voice.  Any  kind  of  tone  is  regarded 
as  an  exercise.  Frequently  teachers  adopt  those  which 
are  most  bizarre  simply  to  arrest  attention  by  their 
extravagance.  The  effect  of  such  practice  is  nearly 
always  abnormal  and  injurious. 

Students  themselves  have  such  misconceptions  of 
the  voice  that  they  think  its  improvement  depends  upon 
some  trick  or  rule  to  be  conveyed  to  them  by  the  teacher 
at  once  without  the  necessity  of  practice. 

Others  feel  that  the  exercise  has  virtue  in  itself  no 
matter  how  it  may  be  practiced. 

I.   WHAT   IS   A   TRUE   EXERCISE? 

The  subject  of  training  is  difficult.  A  few  suggestions 
are  needed  here  as  to  the  peculiar  nature,  not  only  of 
training  in  general,  but  especially  of  a  vocal  exercise. 
This  may  be  best  presented  in  a  short  space  by  showing 
some  of  the  elements  constituting  a  true  exercise. 
\  i.  A  true  exercise  must  have  point. 

Vocal  training  demands  careful  study  not  only  of  the 


NATURE   OF   TRAINING  49 

whole  but  an  adaptation  of  a  simple  and  definite  action 
which  will  develop  just  the  part  or  function  necessary. 

An  exercise  is  like  medicine.  It  implies  diagnosis  and 
careful  application  of  a  special  remedy,  and  the  simplest 
is  usually  the  best. 

2.  The  true  exercise  points  from  the  abnormal  toward 
the  normal. 

The  idea  of  development  and  training  implies  a  sense 
of  an  ideal  and  the  possibilities  of  attaining  it.  An 
exercise,  in  general,  is  something  that  we  practice  hi 
order  to  attain  some  ideal  possibility.  Indirectly  also 
it  implies  the  existence  of  perversions  or  departures  from 
the  normal  on  account  of  wrong  practices  and  habits. 
Accordingly,  the  student  must  distinguish  between  the 
normal  and  the  abnormal  and  during  all  his  work  must 
keep  in  mind  the  ideal  state  at  which  he  aims,  while 
turning  directly  from  the  negative  condition  he  is  to 
correct. 

The  positive  is  always  better  than  the  negative.  A 
negative  battle  against  negatives  is  destruction,  not 
training.  Hence,  though  it  is  necessary,  especially  where 
faults  are  extreme  and  perversions  have  become  so  deep 
as  to  be  in  the  main  unconscious  to  the  individual,  that 
some  sense  of  the  nature  of  the  abnormal  condition 
must  be  realized,  training  can  never  be  purely  nega- 
tive. The  development  of  consciousness  of  a  fault  is 
merely  a  temporary  expedient,  and  it  is  better,  wherever 
possible,  to  secure  a  sense  of  the  normal  without  any 
relation  to  the  abnormal.  It  is  not  wise,  for  example, 
to  give  children  or  others  whose  voices  are  moderately 
normal  any  direct  attention  to  the  nature  of  faults. 
The  mind  must  be  turned  upward.  Training  is  the  use 
of  nature's  steps  in  order  to  lift  ourselves.  Accordingly, 
the  jdeal  must  be  ever  present,  the  sense  of  possibil- 
ities continually  awake.  The  instinct  of  the  student, 
the  sense  of  normal  conditions,  which  are  always  pres- 


50  MIND   AND   VOICE 

ent,  must  be  quickened,  and  exercises  given  in  a  way 
to  awaken  enthusiasm,  courage,  and  confidence. 

3.  The  exercise  must  localize  function.     Every  part 
of  the  body  has  a  definite  function  to  discharge,  and 
training  must  accentuate  the  process  of  differentiation. 
In  all  animals  of  a  low  type  we  find  an  absence  of  locali- 
zation of  function,  and  we  note  the  same  in  a  misuse  of 
the  voice.    In  all  faults  we  find  muscles  active  which 
are  not  intended  to  be  so,  and  parts  discharging  func- 
tions contrary  to  their  nature,  while  the  agents  which 
should  perform  these  are  either  inactive  or  constricted. 

It  is  a  help,  for  example,  in  studying  throatiness,  to 
recognize  that  muscles  whose  function  belongs  to  swal- 
lowing should  be  passive  in  tone  production. 

4.  The  true  exercise  will  develop  the  primary  or  dis- 
tinctive actions  of  each  agent  concerned.    Every  agent 
of  the  body,  and  every  part  or  muscle   concerned  in 
tone  production,  possess  certain  activities  which  spe- 
cially belong  to  it.    Note,  for  example,  the  distinctive 
actions  of  the  lips.    In  an  ordinary  articulation  the  lips 
are  often  protruded  from  the  teeth  or  compressed  against 
them.     But  both  actions,  while  possible  in  pantomimic 
expressions  do  not  belong  to  the  normal  production  of 
speech.     The  lips  are  pressed  together  and  separated 
for  "  p  "  or  "  b."    They  are  rounded  for  certain  vowels, 
but  in  no  instance  are  they  called  away  from  the  teeth 
or  unduly  pressed  against  them.    Accordingly,  loose  or 
careless  exercises,  working  the  lips  in  all  sorts  of  ways 
to  awaken  then*  activity  and  develop  "  distinctness  in 
articulation,"  in  ninety-nine  cases  out  of  a  hundred 
develop  mouthing.    But  by  working  upon  the  distinctive 
actions  concerned  in  speech,  improvement  can  be  initi- 
ated at  once,  and  no  fault  will  result. 

Again,  observe  that  the  soft  palate  and  the  back  of 
the  tongue  must  approach  each  other  easily  and  normally, 
but  without  constriction,  and  must  separate  widely.  Any 


NATURE   OF  TRAINING  51 

fault  in  this  action  will  result  in  nasality  or  throatiness, 
or  in  both.  Accordingly,  by  taking  a  person  afflicted  in 
this  way,  by  showing  him  these  distinctive  actions  and 
developing  flexibility  of  the  parts,  the  power  to  bring 
them  together  easily  and  to  separate  them  without  labor 
or  constriction,  will  go  to  the  local  cause  of  such  faults 
and  save  long  delay  and  embarrassment. 

5.  A  vocal  exercise  will  be  helpful  in  proportion  as  it 
is  the  accentuation  of  a  fundamental  action.  There  is 
little  difference  between  a  fundamental  and  a  distinc- 
tive action.  The  latter  is  always  fundamental,  but  the 
former  is  not  necessarily  distinctive.  Of  the  fundamen- 
tal actions  of  the  lips  a  distinctive  one  is  that  concerned 
in  expression.  Swallowing  is  an  elemental  action  from 
a  vital  point  of  view,  but  the  constrictors  of  the  pharynx, 
and  other  muscles,  concerned  in  swallowing  must  be 
quiescent  in  speaking.  Some  of  the  worst  faults  of  voice 
are  due  to  a  failure  to  keep  the  animal  muscles  used  in 
swallowing  at  rest  while  the  more  human  ones  are  thus 
given  room  to  perform  their  functions  in  speech. 

A  profound  remark  is  attributed  to  Francois  Delsarte : 
"  The  accentuation  of  fundamentals  brings  power,  but 
the  emphasis  of  accidentals  produces  mediocre  results." 
This  refers  to  the  action  of  the  body,  but  the  principle 
is  as  true  of  the  modulations  of  the  voice  or  articulation. 
The  agent  has  a  few  fundamental  actions,  and  over 
against  these  many  accidental  or  secondary  movements. 
The  tongue  seemingly  can  move  in  an  innumerable  num- 
ber of  ways,  but  only  a  few  of  these  are  necessary  to 
speech.  In  training,  therefore,  in  proportion  to  the 
development  of  these  fundamental  actions  and  the  elim- 
ination of  such  accidental  or  secondary  ones  do  we 
secure  control  over  the  tongue.  Again,  a  man  may 
breathe  hi  an  innumerable  number  of  ways,  and  many 
of  these  will  be  labored  and  abnormal.  True  training 
will  eliminate  them,  and  establish  those  primary  actions 


52  MIND  AND   VOICE 

of  breathing  which  belong  to  or  are  universally  char- 
acteristic of  a  human  being.  When  these  are  developed 
ease,  freedom,  and  power  will  be  established  in  the  voice. 

Fundamental  actions  are  always  simple;  accidental 
ones  usually  complex.  The  former  are  at  the  basis 
of  all  others,  and  can  be  brought  directly  into  right 
relation  to  the  will.  When  we  obtain  control  of  its 
fundamental  actions  we  have  command  of  an  agent,  but 
the  performance  of  accidentals  may  bring  no  genuine 
response  or  control  of  an  agent  or  of  its  functions. 
True  localization  of  function  depends  upon  the  mastery 
of  fundamental  actions. 

6.  The  true  vocal  exercise  co-ordinates  the  actions 
of  different  parts.  We  may  have  to  work,  for  example, 
upon  the  action  of  the  tip  of  the  tongue  in  making  "  t " 
or  "  d,"  but  when  we  begin  to  use  the  action  in  speech 
we  find  that  our  work  has  been  labored  and  exaggerated 
because  not  co-ordinated  with  the  vowel  action.  This 
principle  applies  more  or  less  in  the  training  of  the  body, 
but  has  a  more  distinctive  application  in  the  develop- 
ment of  the  voice.  The  discovery  of  these  co-ordinations 
and  the  observation  of  their  peculiar  action  have  been  of 
greatest  assistance  to  me  in  vocal  training,  and  one  of 
the  special  objects  of  this  book  is  to  show  their  nature. 
It  is  more  than  twenty-five  years  since  I  observed  the 
first  one  and  its  specific  action,  and  recently  I  noted 
another  of  great  importance. 

I  have  no  doubt  that  further  study  of  the  nervous 
system  and  motor  centres,  and  especially  experiments  in 
the  laboratory,  may  prove  the  existence  of  others,  and 
possibly  may  simplify  and  combine  some  of  those  already 
discovered;  but  to  my  mind,  the  noting  of  these  co- 
ordinations is  of  great  help  and  solves  many  mysteries, 
among  them  the  difficulties  of  stammering,  stuttering, 
and  other  impediments,  as  well  as  the  simple  yet  uni- 
versal misuses  of  the  voice. 


NATURE   OF   TRAINING  53 

The  interrelations  of  the  motor  areas  of  the  brain  are 
extremely  curious.  It  is  a  wonderful  fact  that  in  the 
higher  development  of  an  organism  a  greater  number 
of  channels  are  opened  up  from  centre  to  centre,  while 
many  of  the  higher  functions  depend  upon  the  simul- 
taneous union  of  many  motor  centres. 

7.  A  true  vocal  exercise  is  concerned  not  so  much 
with  actions  as  with  conditions. 

Of  course  distinctive  actions  must  be  practiced  in 
order  to  establish  proper  conditions,  but  only  after  the 
fundamental  actions  of  different  agents  are  rightly  co- 
ordinated and  brought  into  richer  response  to  the  mind 
do  we  begin  to  secure  right  tone  conditions. 

It  may  be  a  little  difficult  to  explain  the  difference 
between  actions  and  conditions.  Certain  actions  are 
necessary  in  attuning  an  instrument,  but  the  result  of 
these  when  the  instrument  is  in  tune  is  a  condition. 
The  instrument  is  put  in  tune  by  many  actions  which 
result  hi  one  condition. 

A  man  may  open  his  tone  passage.  He  may  take 
breath,  but  have  no  condition  favorable  to  tone.  It  is 
only  when  the  two  are  simultaneous  and  co-ordinated, 
when  they  appear  to  be  produced  by  one  motor  centre, 
when  they  seem  to  follow  from  a  certain  feeling  or  re- 
ception of  an  impression  or  intention  to  speak,  that  the 
condition  results. 

This  is  one  of  the  primary  difficulties  in  vocal  training 
and  expression.  A  student  will  be  certain  that  he  has 
done  the  external  actions  of  an  exercise  correctly  but 
he  may  not  have  the  exercise.  He  may  be  sure  that  he 
performs  the  two  actions  together  but  still  not  realize  how 
they  may  be  done  together  yet  not  co-ordinated.  The 
exercise  is  mastered  only  when  it  results  in  a  condition 
which  has  sympathetic  connection  with  the  whole  being. 

As  the  whole  violin  vibrates  in  tone,  as  the  tone  of  a 
piano  becomes  imperfect  when  the  least  part  is  abnormal, 


54  MIND   AND    VOICE 

so  the  voice  is  the  result  of  the  conditions  of  the  entire 
being  and  body.  The  most  delicate  local  exercise  must 
bear  some  relation  to  the  imagination  and  feeling  and 
also  to  the  muscular  conditions  of  the  body. 

8.  The  true  exercise  must  be  practiced  with  great 
care,  with  attention,  imagination,  and  feeling  to  accom- 
plish the  best  results.  An  exercise  after  all  is  the  putting 
of  thought  and  feeling  into  action  in  a  way  that  will 
establish  conditions;  hence  the  necessity  on  the  part 
of  the  teacher  to  inspire  students  to  employ  imagination 
and  feeling,  even  in  the  practice  of  what  seems  to  be 
the  most  technical  or  even  mechanical  of  exercises. 
Only  in  this  way  can  fundamental  principles  of  training 
be  applied  and  true  results  be  realized.  Only  thus  can 
we  establish  normal  conditions,  properly  localize  func- 
tions, exercise  elemental  actions,  establish  right  co- 
ordinations and  develop  that  higher  unity  of  being  and 
body  necessary  to  the  most  expressive  power  of  the 
human  voice. 

II.     HOW  CAN  A   NATURAL   ACTION   BE   TURNED  INTO 
AN   EXERCISE? 

Where  can  any  action  be  found,  however  fundamental, 
which  will  fulfill  all  these  requirements?  Are  not  such 
suggestions  merely  visionary?  Is  it  possible  for  an  exer- 
cise to  affect  simultaneously  both  mind  and  body?  Can 
the  principles  found  in  evolution  or  development  in 
nature  by  any  process  of  training  be  applied  to  the  edu- 
cation of  the  human  voice  and  body? 

i.  Attention  may  be  practiced  as  an  exercise.  If 
we  study  the  primary  elements  of  thinking,  we  learn 
that  normally  one  individual  impression  succeeds  another 
in  a  rhythmic  sequence. 

If  we  carefully  observe  our  own  thinking,  in  regard  to 
its  primary  elements,  we  find  ourselves  centering  at- 
tention upon  one  point,  resting  here  for  a  moment,  and 
then  leaping  to  another.  The  thought  may  stay  upon  an 


NATURE    OF   TRAINING  55 

image  for  so  short  a  time,  that  the  mind  receives  a  mere 
superficial  impression  from  each  centre  of  attention; 
or,  on  the  contrary,  the  mind  may  stay  its  attention 
longer  upon  each  idea  until  a  definite  mental  concep- 
tion is  formed  and  felt.  This  may  be  so  vivid  as  to 
correspond  more  or  less  with  the  concrete  object.  Such 
impressions,  however,  may  be  merely  literal  and  lack 
any  imaginative  or  emotional  action.  Many  teachers 
have  talked  too  much  about  the  vividness  of  the  idea. 
The  main  thing  is  not  the  degree  of  literalness  with 
which  an  object  is  seen,  or  a  sound  heard,  for  minds 
act  differently,  but  that  the  idea,  the  conception,  be 
realized  and  felt. 

Expression  is  a  succession  of  responses.  First, 
attention  is  centred  upon  an  idea.  When  such  atten- 
tion is  contemplative,  imagination  responds,  and  If  this 
is  right,  feeling  awakens;  and  the  expansion  of  the 
body  and  action  of  breathing  follow  with  the  co-ordinate 
relaxation  of  the  tone  passage. 

In  general,  it  is  the  concentration  and  the  awakening 
of  the  conception  which  leads  the  way  to  Exercise7 
intensity  of  realization,   while  imagination,  intensity  of 

Impression. 

emotion,  and  the  organism  respond.  It  is  a 
natural  tendency  of  the  mind  not  merely  to  think  an 
idea  but  to  feel  it.  A  complete  mental  impression  seems 
to  be  not  only  a  union  of  perception  with  apperception, 
but  a  response  in  feeling  strong  enough  to  cause  condi- 
tions or  actions.  ^~- 

THE  DAISY 

With  little  white  leaves  in  the  grasses, 
Spread  wide  for  the  smile  of  the  sun, 

It  waits  till  the  daylight  passes 
And  closes  them  one  by  one. 

I  have  asked  why  it  closed  at  even, 

And  I  know  what  it  wished  to  say: 
There  are  stars  all  night  in  the  heaven, 

And  I  am  the  star  of  the  day. 

Rennell  Rodd. 


56  MIND    AND    VOICE 

Increase  of  attention  individualizes  and  acentuates 
impressions  and  causes  voice  conditions.  When  atten- 
tion is  thus  properly  concentrated  and  the  impression 
is  composed  of  thought,  imagination,  and  feeling,  it 
stimulates  breathing  and  establishes  the  true  conditions 
of  tone.  In  passing  from  one  impression  to  another  a 
pause  is  necessary  and  natural,  its  length  being  deter- 
mined by  the  degree  of  intensity  in  the  realization  of 
the  impression. 

Now,  if  we  study  carefully  the  primary  actions  of  the 
mind  of  a  child  we  find  these  individual  centres  of  atten- 
tion clearly  pronounced.  Later  in  life,  especially  in  the 
case  of  those  who  have  engaged  in  such  abstract  think- 
ing, the  mind  dwells  more  upon  general  relations.  In 
all  thinking  there  is  the  centre  of  attention  on  individual 
idea,  and  at  the  same  time  a  relation  of  this  to  oth- 
ers and  to  a  broad  abstract  meaning.  The  educated 
man  accentuates  general  ideas  or  abstractions;  the 
child  emphasizes  the  individual  impression. 

The  real  artist,  the  one  who  wishes  to  use  his  voice, 
Exercises.  must  learn  to  accentuate  both,  but  he  must 
SttafS?*11"  first  become  a  little  child.  Let  anyone  take 
impression.  such  a  passage  as  the  following  and  render 
it  to  a  young  boy  or  girl,  and  this  individualizing  action 
will  be  realized. 

MY  BED 
My  bed  is  like  a  little  boat; 

Nurse  helps  me  in  when  I  embark; 
She  girds  me  in  my  sailor's  coat 

And  starts  me  in  the  dark. 
At  night  I  go  on  board  and  say 

"  Good-night "  to  all  my  friends  on  shore; 
I  shut  my  eyes  and  sail  away 
And  see  and  hear  no  more. 
All  night  across  the  dark  we  steer; 

But  when  the  day  returns  at  last, 
Safe  in  my  room  beside  the  pier, 

I  find  my  vessel  fast. 

R.  L.  Stevenson. 


NATURE    OF   TRAINING  57 

Little  Robin  Redbreast  sat  upon  a  tree, 

Up  went  Pussy  cat,  and  down  went  he ; 

Down  came  Pussy  cat,  and  away  Robin  flew; 

Says  little  Robin  Redbreast,  "  Catch  me,  catch  me,  do !  " 

Little  Robin  Redbreast  hopped  upon  a  wall, 
Pussy  cat  jumped  after  him,  and  almost  got  a  fall, 
Little  Robin  chirped  and  sang,  and  what  did  pussy  say? 
Pussy  cat  said,  "  Mew!  "  and  Robin  flew  away. 

Our  education  tends  too  frequently  to  overlook  the 
function  of  nursery  rhymes.  The  individualization  of 
the  impression  is  a  first  and  necessary  stage  in  the 
growth  of  the  child's  mind.  Besides,  it  must  be  de- 
veloped in  preparation  for  speaking,  for  writing,  and  in 
fact,  for  all  mental  power.  The  individualization  of  the 
impression  should  be  developed  and  retained  even  with 
the  acquisition  of  the  more  logical  and  abstract  power 
of  generalization.  There  is  really  no  antagonism  be- 
tween a  vivid  individual  idea  in  union  with  the  broadest 
generalization.  A  great  speaker  especially  must  have 
the  power  of  intense  and  vivid  impressions  as  well  as 
ability  to  relate  successive  ones  to  one  another,  or  to 
give  one  in  a  way  to  suggest  a  relationship  to  the  broad- 
est general  conception  of  the  speaker's  thought. 

If  it  is  the  individual  impression  which  establishes 
our  primary  condition  of  voice,  then  we  must  find  some 
method  of  accentuating  individual  impressions.  If  the 
slighting  of  them  and  the  mere  generalizing  action  of 
the  mind,  causes  one  to  breathe  too  seldom  and  to 
fail  to  co-ordinate  the  centre  of  fullness  or  activity  of 
breathing  and  passivity  of  the  throat,  then  necessarily 
the  first  important  step  in  the  establishment  of  such 
conditions  must  be  to  find  some  specific  action  of  the 
mind  that  will  co-ordinate  thinking  and  feeling. 

The  student  can  easily  demonstrate  to  him-  Exercise  9. 
self  the  power  of  an  individual  impression  Jjf  vocal* 
by  reading  some  passage,  holding  the  gen-  Resi)onses_I 


58  MIND   AND   VOICE 

eral  meaning  in  his  mind,  and  then  picturing  each 
idea  specifically,  intensifying  the  individual  impression. 
The  effect  upon  the  voice  conditions  can  be  seen  at  once. 

Two  prisoners  looked  out  from  behind  their  bars 

One  saw  the  mud,  the  other  saw  the  stars. 

Unknown. 

THE  EAGLE 

He  clasps  the  crag  with  hooked  hands; 
Close  to  the  sun  in  lonely  lands, 
Ring'd  with  the  azure  world,  he  stands. 

The  wrinkled  sea  beneath  him  crawls; 
He  watches  from  his  mountain  walls; 

And  like  a  thunderbolt  he  falls. 

Alfred  Tennyson. 

ON  FIRST  SEEING  THE  OCEAN 

And  this  is  the  dreamed-of  wonder! 

This  —  at  last  —  is   the   sea! 
Billows  of  liquid  thunder  — 

Vocal  immensity! 
But  where  is  the  thrill  of  glory 

Born  of  a  great  surprise? 
This  is  the  old,  old  story; 

These  are  the  ancient  skies. 

Child  of  the  prairie  expanses, 

Often  the  soul  of  me 
Hungered  for  long  sea-glances; 

And  here  —  at  last  —  is  the  sea. 
Yon  goes  a  sea  gull  flying; 

There  is  a  sinking  mast; 
This  is  the  ocean  crying ! 

This  is  the  rune  of  the  Vast! 

But  out  in  my  mother  country, 

Ever  since  I  was  born, 
This  is  the  song  that  my  brother  Winds 

Sang  in  the  fields  of  corn. 
And  there,  in  the  purple  midnights 

Sullen  and  still  with  heat, 
This  is  the  selfsame  drone  that  ran 

Over  the  heading  wheat. 
From  "  Man  Song ' '  John  G.  Neidhardt . 


NATURE   OF   TRAINING  59 

2.  The  exclamation  may  serve  as  an  exercise  for  the 
co-ordination  of  mind,  body,  and  voice. 

In  human  language  we  find  a  class  of  words  called 
interjections  because  they  are  thrown  in  and  have  hardly 
any  symbolic  character,  and  are  merely  so  many  inar- 
ticulate sounds  which  do  not  symbolize  specific  ideas. 
An  interjection  is  sometimes  called  an  exclamation, 
which  etymologically  means  to  cry  out. 

Now  the  reason  these  are  slighted  is  because  they 
contain  more  pantomimic  than  verbal  elements  of  expres- 
sion. On  account  of  this  very  fact  a  study  of  these  prim- 
itive outcries  will  throw  light  upon  the  use  of  the  voice. 

An  exclamation  is  the  effect  of  an  impression.  It  is 
so  direct  that  it  may  be  a  mere  outcry.  The  mind  has 
not  had  time  to  formulate  a  phrase  or  word.  Hence,  it 
accentuates  the  spontaneous  and  primary  union  of  the 
faculties  and  powers.  Thinking,  imagination,  and  feel- 
ing, at  any  rate,  are  all  active. 

Some  have  doubted  whether  exclamations  should 
really  be  called  words.  They  are  always  associated 
with  action  and  are  primarily  mere  vocal  expressions. 

Exclamations  may  be  regarded  as  the  crude  beginning 
in  which  words,  tones,  and  actions  are  united.  The  ex- 
clamation is  hardly  a  symbol;  it  is  rather  a  sign,  and 
the  tone  and  action  are  blended  into  a  primitive  oneness. 
There  is  little  differentiation  between  the  action  and  the 
tone  or  the  tone  and  the  articulation  of  the  word  that  is 
used. 

The  significance  of  exclamations  has  been  overlooked. 
It  is  strange  that  no  one  has  ever  noticed  their  value  in 
vocal  training.  They  will  serve  as  a  great  aid  to  teachers 
in  establishing  fundamental  conditions  of  the  voice,  for 
though  they  lack  linguistic  importance  they  may  be  of 
great  value  in  education  and  should  not  be  treated  lightly 
or  without  careful  study. 

From  investigations  of  scientists  into  the  early  history 


60  MIND  AND   VOICE 

of  speech  it  appears  that  language  was  at  first  crude  and 
lacked  qualifying  words,  that  it  reflected  the  more  child- 
like attitude  of  the  primitive  mind. 

"  The  lowest  form  of  language,"  says  Herbert  Spencer, 
"  is  the  exclamation,  by  which  an  entire  idea  is  vaguely 
conveyed  through  a  single  sound,  as  among  the  lower 
animals.  That  human  language  ever  consisted  solely 
of  exclamations,  and  so  was  strictly  homogeneous  in 
respect  of  its  parts  of  speech,  we  have  no  evidence.  But 
that  language  can  be  traced  down  to  a  form,  in  which 
nouns  and  verbs  are  its  only  elements,  is  an  established 
fact.  In  the  gradual  multiplication  of  parts  of  speech 
out  of  these  primary  ones  —  in  the  differentiation  of 
verbs  into  active  and  passive,  of  nouns  into  abstract  and 
concrete  —  in  the  rise  of  distinctions  of  mood,  tense, 
person,  of  number  and  case  —  in  the  formation  of  auxili- 
ary verbs,  of  adjectives,  adverbs,  pronouns,  preposi- 
tions, articles  —  hi  the  divergence  of  those  orders, 
genera,  species,  and  varieties  of  parts  of  speech  by 
which  civilized  races  express  minute  modifications  of 
meaning  —  we  see  a  change  from  the  homogeneous  to 
the  heterogeneous." 

If  we  now  return  to  the  surprise  or  exclamation,  upon 
which  our  first  hypothesis  was  based,  it  will  be  seen 
that  the  simultaneous  taking  of  breath,  opening  of  the 
tone  passage,  and  expansion  of  the  body  are  the  direct 
effect  of  the  action  of  the  mind  which  causes  the  shout 
or  outcry.  A  definite  impression,  single  and  intense, 
causes  not  only  co-ordination  and  activity  in  breathing 
and  openness  of  the  tone  passage,  but  brings  the  body 
into  immediate  response  to  the  mind.  Accordingly,  in 
such  an  exclamation  not  only  do  we  find  action  in  the 
middle  of  the  body,  co-ordinated  with  a  passive  throat, 
but  discover  that  these  actions  or  conditions  are  the 
direct  response  of  the  organism  to  the  vivid  impression 
received  in  thought. 


NATURE   OF   TRAINING  6l 

If  we  observe  carefully  many  such  conditions,  we 
shall  learn  that  the  taking  of  breath  is  always  directly 
caused  by  the  reception  of  an  impression.  If  a  man 
drifts  from  one  idea  to  another,  receiving  only  a  super- 
ficial impression  of  any,  we  may  not  observe  this  ten- 
dency. But  the  absence  of  response  in  weak  impressions 
is  in  itself  a  proof  of  the  law.  In  general,  whenever  the 
mind  has  its  own  rhythmic  pulsation,  whenever  it  nor- 
mally receives  a  definite  impression  before  expression, 
the  rhythm  of  breathing  is  dominated  by  that  of  thinking. 
A  man  who  thinks  in  intense  rhythmic  pulsations  will 
breathe  frequently.  Men  inhale  too  little  breath  in 
speaking,  but  by  increasing  the  definiteness  of  each  suc- 
cessive impression,  the  amount  of  breath,  as  well  as  the 
frequency  of  breathing,  may  be  increased. 

Hence,  we  find  a  fuller  co-ordination  not  only  between 
the  parts  of  the  vocal  mechanism  but  between  this  as 
a  whole  and  the  mind.  The  conceptual  mental  action, 
the  imaginative  and  emotional  realization  of  ideas 
directly  cause  conditions  of  voice.  The  mind  correlates 
distinct  parts  into  sympathetic  union  and  establishes  the 
whole  as  a  vocal  instrument. 

Here  we  have  a  key  to  the  training  of  the  voice  by 
means  of  mental  action,  or  at  least  one  step  in  such 
development.  The  basis  of  all  true  vocal  exercises  must 
be  the  accentuation  not  only  of  the  volitional  act  or  the 
movement  of  the  physical  part  but  of  the  mental  and 
emotional  activities.  In  all  training  of  the  voice,  imagi- 
nation and  feeling  must  be  awakened,  and  the  mind 
left  free  to  realize  and  enjoy;  but  attention  must  be  so 
disciplined  that  the  increase  of  concentration  arouses 
imagination  and  feeling  still  more  and  deepens  and  sus- 
tains the  impression  in  all  its  complete  elements. 

We  discover  here  something  simple,  practical,  and 
elemental.  Since  exclamations  express  single  ideas,  or 
rather  impressions  of  a  distinct  situation;  since  they 


62  MIND   AND   VOICE 

are  rather  signs  than  symbols,  we  find  the  basis,  at 
any  rate,  of  an  exercise  needed  for  the  improvement 
Exercise  io.  of  the  voice.  An  exclamation  is  also  a  safe 
JSd  v<Slin  exercise  to  give  to  all.  It  will  stimulate  and 
Responses— n.  <jevei0p  mental  and  emotional  activity,  and 
cause  greater  responsiveness  of  the  vocal  organism. 
Minds  that  have  become  too  abstract  or  general  lose 
these  responses.  This  exercise  gives  them  a  method  of 
returning  to  childlike  conditions,  and  helps  to  restore  the 
mind  to  its  normal  energy  and  influence  over  the  body. 

"  Joy!  joy!  "  she  cried;  "  my  task  is  done  — 
The  gates  are  passed,  and  heaven  is  won!  " 
From  "  Paradise  and  the  Peri  "  Thomas  Moore. 

"  Take  her,  O  bridegroom,  old  and  gray, 
Take  her  to  thy  protecting  arms, 
With  all  her  youth  and  all  her  charms !  " 
From  "  The  Building  of  the  Ship '»  Henry  Wadsworth  Longfellow. 

Mark !     Mark !    A  spark  gleams  in  the  dark. 
From  "  Tiger  Bay  »>  Robert  Buchanan. 

Adieu,  adieu!  my  native  shore  fades  o'er  the  waters  blue; 
The  night-wind  sighs,  the  breakers  roar,  and  shrieks  the  wild 

sea-mew. 

Yon  sun  that  sets  upon  the  sea  we  follow  in  his  flight ; 
Farewell  awhile  to  him  and  thee,  my  native  land  —  Good 

Night! 
From  "  Childe  Harold  "  Byron. 

We  ascertain  also  how  to  cope  with  one  of  the  most 
discouraging  conditions  encountered  in  training  speak- 
ers. The  ordinary  theological  student,  for  example,  has 
from  seven  to  ten  years  in  the  preparatory  school,  four 
years  hi  college,  and  three  in  the  seminary.  Nearly  all 
his  work  has  been  abstract.  In  endeavoring  to  gather 
general  ideas  he  has  lost  much  of  his  ability  to  realize 
vivid,  individual  impressions.  Although  a  scholar  he  is 
a  poor  speaker.  He  can  think  in  a  library  or  at  his  desk 


NATURE   OF   TRAINING  63 

but  not  upon  his  feet.  He  lacks  the  power  to  bring  all 
his  faculties  together,  and  especially  to  co-ordinate 
feeling  with  thinking  and  to  present  a  general  principle 
with  earnestness  and  intensity. 

Here  then  we  have  a  key,  to  the  training  of  the  voice 
by  accentuating  mental  action,  by  sustaining  and  develop- 
ing the  concentration  of  the  mind,  by  allowing  our  imagi- 
nation freedom  in  the  creation  of  a  mental  image,  by 
increasing  the  power  to  vivify  successive  impressions 
and  to  realize  them  intensely  in  feeling. 

One  proof  of  the  principle  here  discussed  may  easily 
be  noted  by  everyone  in  observing  what  stories  or  poems 
are  popular  with  children  or  in  taking  a  poem  or  passage 
full  of  great  abstract  thought  and  contrasting  it  with  a 
so-called  popular  one,  which  will  thrill  or  stir  an  ordi- 
nary audience.  Is  there  not  here  a  great  neglect  in 
education?  In  most  successful  primary  schools  atten- 
tion is  given  to  individual  impressions  in  connection  with 
the  study  of  words,  but  rarely  is  this  step  related  to  the 
training  of  the  voice.  The  exercise  of  the  voice,  accord- 
ing to  Mosso  and  other  physiologists,  should  precede 
language  exercises,  because  the  motor  centres  will  thus 
be  stimulated  in  a  more  natural  order.  Vocal  exercises, 
however,  not  only  belong  to  the  training  of  children  but 
should  be  continued  more  or  less  through  life. 

To  move  men  ideas  must  always  be  vividly  realized. 
In  all  art  knowledge  must  be  intuitive. 

Since  the  exclamation  is  the  "  lowest  form  of  lan- 
guage," it  is  also  complex  because  at  the  beginning  of 
language,  action,  tone,  and  words  were  confusedly 
united,  or  at  least  had  not  been  completely  differentiated, 
and  this  primitive  condition  of  language  is  probably 
shown  to  us  by  the  exclamation.  At  any  rate,  the  ex- 
clamation reveals  most  forcibly  the  fundamental  actions 
of  the  body  and  voice  and  the  establishment  of  condi- 
tions of  tone.  Since  an  exclamation  reveals  an  "  en- 


64  MIND   AND   VOICE 

tire  idea,"  it  shows  the  most  primary  response  of  the 
conditions  of  tone  to  the  mind.  Hence,  it  is  the  best 
exercise  for  the  co-ordination  of  the  psychic  with  the 
technical  conditions  of  tone. 

From  the  quotation  from  Spencer  we  obtain  another 
hint.  If  nouns  and  verbs  were  at  one  time  the  "  only 
elements,"  then  we  can  choose  primitive  sentences, 
definite  propositions  with  one  noun  or  verb  or  with  only 
verbs,  as  in  commands,  and  practice  these  as  an  exer- 
cise of  that  generic  action  of  the  mind  where  a  complete 
conception  causes  the  utterance  of  the  word. 

We  must  not  forget  that  training  is  an  act  of  delib- 
erative evolution.  If  we  follow  the  original  steps  that 
nature  has  taken  in  localizing  some  specific  function  we 
can  improve  a  weak  body  or  voice  by  beginning  there 
and  taking  these  steps  again,  consciously  and  delibera- 
tively  accentuating  the  fundamental  conditions  of  each. 

Accentuation  of  an  exclamation  will  stimulate  in  the 
most  fundamental  manner  the  motor  centres  of  human 
language.  Right  practice  of  an  exclamation  or  of  a 
simple  command  or  word  will  cause  conditions  and 
open  the  throat. 

It  also  goes  without  saying  that  since  action  precedes 
speech  as  a  language,  there  should  be  accentuation  of 
the  pantomimic  actions  which  form  conditions  of  tone. 

We  have  here  a  hint  as  to  the  right  development  of 
phrasing.  These  fundamental  actions  of  the  mind  in 
the  use  of  primitive  words  remain  fundamental,  even 
though  adjectives  and  other  qualifiers  be  added.  Hence 
in  practice  immediately  after  the  accentuation  of  individ- 
ual words,  all  the  qualifiers  are  gathered  about  one  of 
these,  —  that  is,  adjectives  around  nouns  and  adverbs 
and  adverbial  phrases  around  verbs,  thus  making  the 
whole  phrase  of  the  same  co-ordinate  condition  that  is 
found  in  the  primary  words. 

If  we  observe  the  difference  between  various  classes 


NATURE   OF  TRAINING  65 

of  persons,  from  children  to  the  highest  scholars,  from 
poetic  minds  to  the  most  abstract  thinkers ;  and  between 
all  states  of  mind,  from  great  excitement  to  indifference 
or  mere  abstract  or  complex  thinking;  we  find  that  in 
proportion  to  the  vividness  of  the  successive  ideas,  the 
vigor  of  the  impression  produced  upon  the  mind,  true 
voice  conditions  are  more  pronounced;  that  the  more 
the  speaker  receives  individual  impressions,  as  children 
do,  the  more  are  the  primitive  conditions  of  voice 
observed. 

Do  we  not,  therefore,  discover  from  the  psychological 
as  well  as  from  the  physiological  point  of  view  an  illus- 
tration in  an  exclamation  of  some  of  the  primary 
principles  of  vocal  training? 

It  is  not  enough  to  recognize  the  general  effect  of  the 
mind  upon  the  voice.  It  is  necessary  to  find  some 
specific  mental  action  which  will  cause  voice  condi- 
tions. Neither  thinking  in  general  nor  emotion  neces- 
sarily improves  the  response  of  the  voice.  In  voices 
perverted  by  bad  habits  even  intense  mental  actions 
may  increase  abnormal  conditions  instead  of  establish- 
ing normal  ones.  Specific  mental  actions  must  be  found 
which  will  restore  and  emphasize  normal  actions  and 
conditions.  Hence,  there  must  be  a  more  careful  inves- 
tigation as  to  the  fundamental  actions  of  the  mind  and 
the  normal  responses  to  these. 

Returning  to  our  first  illustration  and  the  principle 
that  mental  actions  cause  activity  in  the  middle  of  the 
body  and  passivity  of  the  throat,  by  observing  further 
we  find  that  not  only  a  sudden  surprise  but  any  vivid 
individual  impression  causes  these  voice  conditions. 

Impressions  are  individualized  more  not  only  in 
children  but  in  persons  of  a  poetic  or  artistic  tempera- 
ment and  with  oratoric  instinct.  Probably  persons  with 
pleasing  voices  have  always  a  great  power  of  individu- 
alization  of  thinking.  They  are  especially  capable  of  re- 


66  MIND    AND    VOICE 

ceiving  specific  impressions.  To  use  a  logical  term, 
their  ideas  have  greater  "  intention,"  while  persons  with 
rather  poor  voices  have  greater  "  extension."  John 
Stuart  Mill  used  the  terms  "  denotation  "  and  "  connota- 
tion " ;  a  word  standing  for  a  single  idea  is  said  to 
denote  it;  a  word  standing  for  a  large  number  of  ab- 
stract qualities,  to  connote  them.  But  the  use  of  words 
is  only  the  naming  of  a  process  which  varies  in  different 
minds.  Though  two  speakers  or  readers  may  use  ex- 
actly the  same  words,  the  degree  of  intention  and  ex- 
tension, of  denotation  and  connotation,  may  differ  widely 
in  the  two  minds. 

It  is  a  well-known  fact  that  persons  who  go  into  deep 
philosophical  and  abstract  mathematical  or  speculative 
work  finally  acquire  a  hardness  of  the  voice.  The  reso- 
nance positively  decreases.  On  the  other  hand,  those 
who  study  literature,  especially  with  a  sympathetic 
method  and  with  vocal  interpretations,  find  that  the  voice 
improves  in  resonance. 

At  one  time  I  made  an  investigation  of  several  cases. 
I  found  one  college  student,  whose  voice  was  cold  and 
colorless,  to  be  utterly  unable  to  picture  even  a  flower 
in  color;  his  thinking  was  entirely  abstract.  He  had  a 
kind  of  mental  color  blindness.  Naturally  there  was  no 
color  in  his  voice,  since  tone  color  has  a  decided  analogy 
with  visual  color. 

I  have  found  in  all  cases  where  there  was  a  lack  of 
visualizing,  that  is,  where  the  thinking  was  merely 
symbolic,  that  the  voice  had  become  cold  and  hard.  Of 
course,  the  qualities  of  the  voice  differ  in  different  per- 
sons, and  from  other  causes  such  as  health  'conditions. 
Note  also  that  many  of  the  ablest  thinkers  and  philoso- 
phers who  have  developed  such  a  mental  condition  have 
acquired  it  chiefly  late  in  life.  Though  the  voice  has 
deteriorated,  yet  because  good  vocal  habits  were  more 
or  less  established  in  early  life,  their  beneficent  in- 


NATURE   OF   TRAINING  67 

fluence  is  manifested  through  the  years.  Richness  in 
resonance  is  found  in  those  having  vivid  imaginations 
and  power  of  feeling. 

In  demonstrating  the  value  of  an  exclamation  in  co- 
ordinating mind,  body,  and  voice  the  student  Exercise  n. 
must  observe  that  it  is  not  merely  the  ex- 
clamatory  words  but  the  exclamatory  phrase. 
In  the  following  lines  not  only  the  exclamation  "  Hur- 
rah! "  calls  for  co-ordination  but  also  the  phrase,  "  Give 
way,  my  lads,  give  way!  " 

Hurrah!  hurrah!  the  west  wind 

Comes  freshening  down  the  bay! 
The  rising  sails  are  filling, 

Give  way,  my  lads,  give  way. 

Whittier. 

3.  Lyric  poems  may  serve  as  a  means  of  improving 
the  voice. 

If  we  realize  that  imagination  and  feeling  must  be 
awakened  in  the  training  of  the  voice,  we  can  at  once 
see  the  importance  of  studying  the  best  literature. 

Poetry  is  the  expression  of  imagination  and  feeling) 
It  is  a  realization  of  life.  The  higher  its  quality,  the 
deeper  the  impression  of  the  heart,  and  the  greater  the 
simplicity  of  its  expression. 

To  deepen  our  impressions,  or  to  concentrate  our 
attention  upon  individual  ideas,  so  as  to  co-ordinate 
imagination  and  feeling,  there  is  no  better  exercise  than 
the  study  of  poetry,  especially  the  reading  of  it  aloud. 

Of  all  forms  of  verse,  however,  lyric  poetry  is  most 
important  for  the  development  of  the  voice.  A  lyric 
produces  practically  one  impression,  —  it  is  the  intense 
realization  of  one  idea.  It  is  imaginative  and  emotional 
and  calls  for  the  most  intense  realization  of  vivid  individ- 
ual impressions. 

Accordingly  we  can  trace  a  clear  analogy  between  the 
individual  impressions  of  an  exclamation  and  of  a  lyric 


68  MIND  AND  VOICE 

poem.  We  can  see  also  why  the  lyric  was  probably  the 
earliest  form.  The  song  begins  with  the  cradle.  It  is 
an  intense,  sustained  impression,  and  on  this  account 
necessarily  accentuates  the  primary  voice  conditions. 

The  student  cannot  be  too  strongly  recommended  to 
make  a  careful  study  of  lyric  poetry.  Professor  Charles 
Eliot  Norton  recommended  students  to  memorize  some 
of  the  best  lyrics  and  to  read  them  aloud  frequently. 
This  exercise  not  only  awakens  imagination  and  feeling, 
but  co-ordinates  these  with  attention.  When  properly 
rendered,  such  an  exercise  also  accentuates  proper 
voice  conditions.  It  increases  the  breathing ;  stimulates 
sympathetic  activity  through  the  body;  and  opens 
the  tone  passage.  It  establishes  the  fundamental  co- 
ordination of  the  intellectual,  emotional,  and  imagina- 
tive actions  of  the  mind  with  normal  conditions  of  voice 
and  body,  most  favorable  to  the  ideal  production  of 
tone,  and  of  all  the  higher  modes  of  expression. 

The  student  should  first  practice  simple  and  animated 
Exercise  12.  lyrics,  full  of  joy  or  admiration  of  nature. 
SSJiffiE?"  The  right  practice  of  the  following,  for  ex- 
altation, ample,  may  be  made  to  awaken  imagination, 
feeling,  sluggish  breathing,  and  the  deepest  responses 
of  body  and  voice. 

THE  BLUEBIRD 

I  know  the  song  that  the  bluebird  is  singing, 
Out  in  the  apple-tree  where  he  is  swinging. 
Brave  little  fellow!  the  skies  may  be  dreary,  — 
Nothing  cares  he  while  his  heart  is  so  cheery. 

Hark!  how  the  music  leaps  out  from  his  throat! 
Hark!  was  there  ever  so  merry  a  note? 
Listen  awhile,  and  you  '11  hear  what  he  's  saying, 
Up  in  the  apple-tree  swinging  and  swaying. 

"  Dear  little  blossoms  down  under  the  snow, 
You  must  be  weary  of  winter,  I  know; 
Hark  while  I  sing  you  a  message  of  cheer ! 
Summer  is  coming,  and  spring-time  is  here ! 


NATURE   OF   TRAINING  69 

"  Little  white  snow-drop !  I  pray  you  arise ; 
Bright  yellow  crocus!  come,  open  your  eyes; 
Sweet  little  violets,  hid  from  the  cold, 
Put  on  your  mantles  of  purple  and  gold; 
Daffodils !  daffodils !  say,  do  you  hear?  — 
Summer  is  coming,  and  spring-time  is  here !  " 

Emily  Euntington  Miller. 

The  ways  are  green  with  the  gladdening  sheen 

Of  the  young  year's  fairest  daughter. 
O,  the  shadows  that  fleet  o'er  the  springing  wheat! 

O,  the  magic  of  running  water! 
The  spirit  of  spring  is  in  everything, 

The  banners  of  spring  are  streaming, 
We  march  to  the  tune  from  the  fifes  of  June, 

And  life  's  a  dream  worth  dreaming.  .  .  . 

What  nature  has  writ  with  her  lusty  wit 

Is  worded  so  wisely  and  kindly 
That  whoever  has  dipped  in  her  manuscript 

Must  up  and  follow  her  blindly. 
Now  the  summer  prime  is  her  blithest  rhyme 

In  the  being  and  the  seeming, 
And  they  that  have  heard  the  Overword 

Know  life  's  a  dream  worth  dreaming. 

W.  E.  Henley. 

V.   CLASSES   OF  EXERCISES 

There  are  many  ways  of  doing  wrong  but  of  doing 
right  there  are  few.  Conditions  can  be  perverted  easily, 
but  to  establish  normal  ones  requires  the  following  of 
a  straight  and  narrow  path.  Can  we  find  a  few  modes 
of  stimulating  right  voice  conditions? 

Two  elements  are  found  in  all  practice,  either  of  which 
may  be  the  more  accentuated,  thus  giving  rise  to  what 
may  be  loosely  called  two  kinds  of  exercises.  The  first 
of  these  primary  elements  is  the  accentuation  of  the 
cause,  —  that  is,  the  awakening  of  the  mental  and  emo- 
tional activities  which  directly  use  the  parts  and  tend  to 
co-ordinate  them  or  to  establish  right  conditions  of  voice. 
The  second  is  the  control  and  right  action  of  the  organs 


70  MIND   AND   VOICE 

concerned.  While  both  are  employed  in  any  true  exer- 
cise, it  is  to  be  noted  that  when  attention  is  primarily 
directed  to  the  accentuation  of  the  mental  cause  or  action 
it  may  be  called  a  psychic  exercise.  When,  however,  it 
is  definitely  focussed  upon  the  specific  and  fundamental 
actions  and  conditions,  or  the  functions  of  some  part, 
or  the  co-ordination  of  a  group  of  parts,  and  the  will  is 
directed  to  restoring  or  normally  increasing  these,  it 
may  be  named  a  technical  exercise. 

Every  exercise  must,  on  the  one  hand,  be  as  psychic 
as  possible,  for  any  primary  action  of  an  agent  can  only 
be  normally  produced  by  awakening  the  cause.  On  the 
other  hand,  no  exercise  must  be  vague  or  indefinite,  but 
must  have  as  specific  a  focus  of  the  will  as  possible  upon 
a  fundamental  need. 

In  a  vocal  exercise  the  psychic  element,  or  such  an 
emphasis  of  the  mental  or  emotional  impression  as  will 
cause  a  vocal  condition,  is  important;  because  in  no 
other  way  possible  can  all  the  spontaneous,  unconscious, 
involuntary  elements  be  awakened  into  action.  A  techni- 
cal exercise,  however,  or  the  direct  accentuation  of  move- 
ment or  action  of  a  part  by  the  will  in  order  to  secure  the 
right  action  directly,  is  also  important  because  attention 
can  be  definitely  focussed  upon  the  part  or  seat  of  the 
abnormal  action.  The  ideal  of  an  agent  or  its  functions 
or  fundamental  actions  and  its  relations  to  all  others  can 
also  be  formed.  Hence,  technical  practice  is  more 
adequate  to  correct  specific  defects,  and  must  always 
form  a  part  of  true  training. 

A  psychic  exercise  is  spontaneous;  a  technical  one 
more  deliberative.  In  the  former  the  consciousness 
centers  upon  realization  and  impression;  in  the  later 
the  action  of  the  parts,  or  the  processes  or  performance 
is  more  in  mind. 

A  psychic  exercise  can  be  carried  forward  to  a  direct 
application  in  the  work  of  expression.  A  technical  one 


NATURE  OF   TRAINING  71 

is  more  preliminary.  It  is  the  attuning  of  the  instrument 
before  it  is  played  upon,  and  is  forgotten  in  the  act  of 
expression,  and  known  only  by  its  results,  as  the  tuning 
of  an  instrument  is  forgotten  by  the  player. 

Technical  exercises  are  more  adequate  for  the  cor- 
rection of  extremely  abnormal  conditions  where  personal 
and  hand  to  hand  training  is  possible.  Psychic  exer- 
cises should  precede,  and  should  also  follow  technical 
ones  to  prevent  the  latter  from  becoming  mechanical, 
perfunctory,  and  artificial.  Both  classes  are  necessary 
with  all  persons,  but  the  psychic  must  be  more  accen- 
tuated with  children,  and  is  safer  for  large  classes.  It 
is  also  well  adapted  for  simple,  progressive  development 
in  the  case  of  those  who  have  normal  conditions  of 
voice.  But  in  such  cases  the  teacher  must  have  a  cor- 
rect knowledge  of  technical  needs  and  of  exercises  in 
order  to  apply  a  psychological  exercise  as  definitely  as 
possible.  Such  an  exercise,  in  fact,  must  not  be  vague. 
It  demands  great  care  in  its  application,  fully  as  much  as 
the  technical  kind,  though  of  a  different  kind.  The  at- 
tention of  the  teacher  must  be  directed  to  the  whole 
intellectual,  imaginative,  and  emotional  nature  of  the 
student,  and  all  must  be  blended  into  harmony,  and  yet 
so  emphasized  as  to  accomplish  a  specific  end.  Not 
every  practice  of  expression  constitutes  an  exercise; 
even  the  psychic  demands  a  focus  and  such  practice 
as  to  accomplish  a  specific  end. 

These  two  phases  of  training,  however,  by  no  means 
include  all  the  elements  of  development.  Nature,  for 
example,  uses  many  means  of  discipline.  The  first  we 
find  is  play.  Play  results  from  the  overflow  of  energy  or 
emotion  or  any  spontaneous  desire  for  activity,  which  is 
implanted  in  the  nature  of  every  animal.  This  should  be 
the  fountain-head  of  all  kinds  of  exercises  and  training. 

Can  we  apply  this  principle  of  play  in  the  training  of 
the  voice?  It  not  only  can  but  must  be  used  in  all  vocal 


72  MIND   AND   VOICE 

training.  The  voice  is  the  product,  to  a  great  extent,  of 
spontaneous  activities.  Right  breathing  is  associated 
with  a  certain  sympathetic  and  exhilarated  expansion  of 
the  whole  body  which  can  hardly  be  secured  mechani- 
cally. The  voice  demands  a  diffusion  of  emotion  into 
all  parts,  the  awakening  and  harmonizing  of  almost  all 
activities  of  mind  and  body,  and  this  is  secured  best  by 
the  spirit  of  play  brought  under  control. 

The  psychic  elements  especially  unite  with  this  spirit 
and  enable  exercises  to  be  more  enjoyed.  Note  the 
assignment,  for  example,  of  an  exclamation.  This  re- 
quires of  the  student  a  subjective  solution  of  conditions 
by  emphasizing  a  mental  action.  He  must  practice 
exercises  hi  such  a  way  as  to  discover  certain  principles 
or  emphasize  primary  actions  and  conditions,  but  in  the 
meantime  he  must  not  give  up  his  spontaneous  enjoy- 
ment of  dramatic,  lyric,  or  other  play  instincts  which 
are  involved  in  every  line  of  true  literature,  and  every 
modulation  of  the  voice  must  be  continually  awake. 
In  the  practice  of  any  exercise  the  teacher  must  have 
the  enthusiasm  and  the  art  of  so  kindling  the  imagina- 
tion that,  though  the  will  is  focussed  definitely  upon  a 
point,  a  certain  exhilarated  enjoyment  results  in  making 
tone. 

The  teacher  must  apply  the  results  of  every  exercise 
to  natural  vocal  expression.  He  should  assign  some 
song,  poem,  paragraph,  story,  or  speech,  that  students 
may  test  as  far  as  possible  all  the  artistic  enjoyment  of 
complete  expression. 

Another  form  of  training  is  that  which  is  known  as 
physical  gymnastics.  This  is  a  direct  and  voluntary 
accentuation  of  muscular  action  that  the  weak  parts  may 
be  strengthened  or  different  ones  brought  into  better 
relationship. 

One  of  the  dangers  in  vocal  training  is  a  confusion  of 
the  principle  of  physical  gymnastics  with  training  for 


NATURE   OF   TRAINING  73 

expression.  Such  gymnastics  require  great  voluntary 
effort.  In  almost  every  instance  in  the  gymnasium 
strength  and  vitality  are  the  aim  and  are  greatly  aug- 
mented. To  this  end  the  exercises  are  labored  and 
the  element  of  effort  is  directly  increased. 

If  such  effort  be  applied  to  voice  exercises  constric- 
tion and  labor  will  result.  It  exaggerates  the  use  of  the 
will  and  eliminates  the  spontaneous,  imaginative,  and 
emotional  elements,  and  hi  many  cases  has  practically 
ruined  the  voice. 

If  students  have  physical  weakness,  and  for  any 
reason  physical  gymnastics  are  needed,  they  should  be 
assigned  with  great  care  and  entirely  separate  exer- 
cises and  periods  of  practice  be  prescribed.  On  the  one 
hand,  I  have  often  found  students  hindered  in  vocal 
exercises  by  work  in  the  gymnasium;  and  on  the  other, 
I  have  sometimes  with  great  advantage  sent  them  there 
for  weak  conditions.  In  all  such  cases  I  have  exhorted 
them  to  see  the  teacher  in  charge,  and  to  obey  carefully 
his  instructions.  I  sent  also  my  own  suggestions  to  such 
a  teacher  and  have  closely  observed  the  effects  in  the 
students.  Teachers  in  such  related  subjects  should 
always  co-operate.  One  of  the  most  powerful  of  all 
agencies  for  good  or  ill  is  a  movement. 

Exercises  may  vary  not  only  on  account  of  the  ele- 
ments to  be  emphasized,  but  by  reason  of  the  aim. 
Occasionally,  for  example,  as  in  the  preceding  observa- 
tion, the  student  is  simply  studying  and  taking  note  of 
a  natural  action.  He  is  not  emphasizing  anything,  but 
trying  to  find  the  way  in  which  an  involuntary  action  is 
produced  or  a  fundamental  principle  for  spontaneous 
actions. 

Again,  he  may  use  a  psychic  exercise  in  two  ways. 
He  may  take  something  as  specific  as  an  exclamation, 
feel  and  imagine  the  situation,  and  repeat  it  fifty  tunes, 
or  give  the  whole  passage  with  the  thought  entirely 


74  MIND   AND   VOICE 

upon  what  he  is  rendering  rather  than  upon  any  of  its 
processes. 

In  the  light  of  these  principles  all  exercises  may  fall 
under  one  of  the  following  divisions : 

First.  Instinctive  uses  of  the  voice  such  as  the  shouts 
or  laughter.  Some  Italian  has  said  that  Americans 
cannot  have  good  voices  because  they  are  not  allowed 
to  cry  when  children.  The  first  uses  of  the  voice  in 
childhood  are  more  important  than  are  usually  realized. 

Second.  Technical  actions.  By  studying  the  invol- 
untary action,  cries,  exclamations,  laughter,  or  calls, 
men  can  find  the  fundamental  principle  involved  or  the 
reason  why  one  action  is  helpful  to  the  voice  and  an- 
other injurious.  He  can  apply  a  simple  one  emphasizing 
this  fundamental  principle  that  will  stimulate  normal 
conditions  and  eliminate  the  abnormal.  All  techni- 
cal exercises  are  accentuations  of  natural,  elemental 
actions  in  accordance  with  some  fundamental  principle. 

Third.  Expedients.  Such  elemental  actions  must  be 
carefully  performed  before  they  become  true  technical 
exercises.  To  secure  correctness  in  such  an  action,  that 
is  to  establish  such  a  performance  of  a  given  function  as 
would  emphasize  or  establish  some  condition  in  accord- 
ance with  the  fundamental  principle,  often  requires 
great  care  on  the  part  of  the  teacher.  In  difficult  cases 
temporary  expedients  are  required  to  get  even  correct- 
ness in  the  performance  of  some  action  whose  normal 
operation  is  lost. 

For  example  some  speakers  acquire  the  habit  of  la- 
bored breathing  with  a  movement  of  their  shoulders. 
This  has  become  so  deeply  seated  that  in  order  to  get 
true  action  of  the  diaphragm  and  to  perform  the  exercise 
of  centrality  in  breathing  a  teacher  will  have  to  lay 
a  student  upon  his  back  or  place  him  in  a  chair  with  the 
hands  extended  downward,  grasping  a  post,  to  compel 
the  shoulders  to  be  still.  This  forces  the  diaphragm 


NATURE   OF   TRAINING  75 

to  move.  Since  its  action  is  natural  a  little  practice  will 
correct  the  perversion  and  stimulate  the  parts  to  per- 
form normally  their  intended  function. 

Such  actions  may  be  regarded  as  of  little  importance, 
but  by  such  means  a  sore  throat  may  be  corrected  and 
normal  conditions  restored.  Though  these  are  tem- 
porary and  must  be  followed  by  a  normal  form  of  exer- 
cise, it  could  not  be  performed  accurately  without  their 
existence. 

Fourth.  Specific  expressive  action;  or  definite  mani- 
festation of  specific  ideas,  situations,  contrasts;  or  the 
accentuation  of  some  specific  expressive  action. 

This  differs  from  a  technical  exercise  in  that  it  implies 
the  stimulation  of  the  effect  by  the  emphasis  of  the 
cause.  A  mere  technical  exercise  may  become  me- 
chanical, but  such  a  psychological  exercise  of  some 
specific  surprise,  exclamation,  contrast,  transmission  or 
other  mental  or  emotional  action  will  produce  practically 
the  same  effect  or  make  a  definite  application  of  the  tech- 
nical exercise.  The  two  together  are  more  effective,  the 
one  securing  more  normal  physical  action,  the  other 
stimulating  the  mental  cause. 

Fifth.  Applications  to  vocal  expression.  The  climax 
of  all  exercises  for  the  development  of  the  voice  must 
be  the  use  of  it  in  interpreting  literature  and  in  express- 
ing all  phases  of  experience  from  the  lowest  to  the 
highest. 

Exercising  the  voice  must  always  accompany  the 
direct  exercise  of  thought,  imagination,  and  feeling. 
Vocal  education  must  be  associated  with  a  study  and 
realization  of  the  embodiments  of  human  experience, 
poetry,  and  literature  in  general. 

Vocal  training  demands,  however,  a  specific  applica- 
tion of  a  specific  kind  of  passage  from  literature  which 
will  meet  some  peculiar  need.  For  example,  one  with 
weakness  in  his  breathing  may  be  given  some  joyous 


76  MIND   AND   VOICE 

lyric,  the  acting  of  some  hearty  character,  or  some 
passage  full  of  great  excitement  or  exultation.  One 
with  a  cold,  hard  voice  should  be  assigned  the  vocal 
interpretation  of  some  passage  full  of  tenderness  and 
love,  admiration  of  nature,  love  of  home,  or  some 
passage  with  deep  feeling. 

All  of  these  complement  each  other;  they  are  all 
necessary;  no  one  is  adequate  without  the  other. 
Any  true  science  of  training  must  recognize  technical 
exercises.  These  must  be  specific  and  definite,  em- 
bodying fundamental  action  so  as  to  establish  elemental 
principles.  The  use  of  fundamental  actions  must  be 
applied  not  only  to  physical  but  also  to  mental  action. 
We  must  emphasize  the  primary  mental  actions  in  such 
a  way  as  to  establish  right  responsiveness  of  the  vocal 
action.  Again,  all  expression  must  emphasize  the 
highest  functions  of  the  voice  in  the  expression  of  the 
fullest  experience  of  the  race. 

Observe  that  the  same  action  may  at  times  be  used 
as  a  study,  a  problem,  an  exercise,  or  an  application, 
according  to  the  needs  of  accentuating  practice,  and 
occasionally  even  as  a  technical  exercise.  That  is  to 
say,  the  same  mental  action  in  some  exclamation  may 
be  first  made  a  study  as  to  what  we  would  do  when 
giving  it  naturally;  secondly,  we  may  accentuate  the 
mental  action  and  the  responses  which  we  have  found; 
then  it  is  a  problem.  In  the  third  place,  we  can  accentu- 
ate more  definitely  the  technical  actions,  and  thus  it 
becomes  an  exercise.  Last  of  all,  we  can  read  it  naturally 
and  in  connection  with  the  rest  of  the  poem,  and  this 
forms  an  application. 

The  best  exercises  are  always  of  this  character. 
Whenever  it  is  possible  the  student  should  be  led  along 
this  path  as  the  most  normal  and  natural  one. 

It  must  be  noted  that  each  successive  individual 
impression,  when  properly  realized,  causes  a  con- 


NATURE   OF    TRAINING  77 

tinuous   rhythmic    sequence  of  these  co-ordinate  re- 
sponses. 

Observe  how  the  following  short  passage  may  be  used 
in  all  five  ways.  We  can  first  observe  how  Exercise  13. 
the  companions  of  Marmion  would  be  ex-  oo§nd?Body, 
cited  by  the  discovery,  imagining  the  situa-  and  Voice~ m- 
tion  and  observing  the  effects  on  our  own  voice  and  body. 
Secondly,  we  can  take  this  word  "  Hark!  "  and  observe 
that  the  tongue  relaxes  and  the  mouth  opens  at  the  same 
time  that  the  breath  is  properly  inhaled.  Repeat  it 
over  and  over  with  the  mind  upon  the  right  technical 
response.  In  the  third  place,  we  might  find  someone 
unable  to  breathe  in  the  middle  of  the  body,  and  we 
might  use  this  sudden  "  Hark!  "  to  get  him  to  realize 
that  he  does  not,  in  response  to  the  mind,  inhale  by  the 
action  of  his  diaphragm.  Fourthly  we  might  read  the 
exclamation  and  the  two  lines  to  emphasize  the  genuine- 
ness of  the  discovery  and  its  effect  upon  both  body  and 
voice.  Lastly,  the  whole  passage  might  be  rendered 
with  the  proper  relation  of  the  expression  of  this  and  all 
other  parts,  and  of  all  these  to  each  other,  noting  that 
the  results  of  the  study,  the  exercise,  the  expedient,  or 
the  accentuation  are  applied  and  realized  in  the  expres- 
sion of  the  whole,  and  not  made  a  mere  isolated  or  local 
action  or  one  calculated  to  induce  a  lack  of  harmony. 

"  Hark !  hark !  my  lord,  an  English  drum ! 

And  see  ascending  squadrons  come." 
"Marmion"  Scott. 

The    thresher    with    his    flail, 

The  shepherd  with  his  crook, 
The  milkmaid  with  her  pail, 

The  reaper  with  his  hook  — 
With  pipe  and  tabor  hither  roam 
All  ye  who  love  our  Harvest-home. 

Hurrah  for  the  English  yoeman!  .  .  . 

Hurrah!  he  yields  to  no  man!   .   .   . 
From  "  Harvest  Home  Song  "  John  Davidson. 


78  MIND   AND   VOICE 

This  discussion  of  the  elements  that  go  to  make  up 
any  exercise  is  especially  important  as  an  aid  in  practice. 
Training  can  never  accomplish  results  without  having 
a  specific  aim,  a  definite  recognition  of  the  parts  to  be 
accentuated,  and  the  way  in  which  this  is  to  be  done. 
Not  only  may  an  exercise  be  used  in  these  four  ways, 
but  true  training  demands  practice  in  all,  and  the 
careful  discrimination  of  these  different  kinds.  When 
working  upon  a  technical  exercise  the  result  must  re- 
ceive careful  and  exact  attention;  and  when  working 
upon  the  accentuation  of  a  cause  the  more  definitely  the 
mind  is  focussed  upon  one  word,  phrase,  or  line,  the 
better.  On  the  contrary,  when  the  aim  is  to  interpret 
a  passage  the  mind  must  take  for  granted  the  attuning 
of  the  organism  and  getting  the  attention  fixed  upon 
the  ideas  and  the  real  situation.  Accordingly,  this  dis- 
crimination is  of  great  assistance  in  training  by  enab- 
ling the  teacher  to  shift  his  point  of  view  according  to 
the  needs  of  each  case,  and  to  be  able  to  accentuate 
any  one  of  the  elements. 

Of  course,  the  aim  must  always  be  interpretation,  and 
this  must  be  kept  in  mind;  but  when  it  fails,  as  it  will 
in  practically  every  instance,  he  must  then  go  back  to 
the  causes  in  the  thinking  and  feeling,  or  in  the  perver- 
sion or  lack  of  development  in  the  organism,  or  the  lack 
of  co-ordination  of  response,  and  restore  everything  to 
normal  conditions. 

Both  analysis  and  synthesis  are  needed.  The  stimu- 
lation of  the  spontaneous,  involuntary  responses  to 
thinking  and  feeling  are  always  required  as  well  as 
spechic  work  upon  a  single  muscle  or  the  focussing  of 
attention  upon  a  single  idea. 


Ill 

RESPIRATORY  AND   PHARYNGEA& 
CO-ORDINATIONS  / 

VI.   THE   MOTIVE   POWER   OF   THE  VOICE 

In  order  to  improve  the  voice  it  is  necessary  to  know 
something  of  the  general  function  of  the  organism  con- 
cerned in  its  production,  the  primary  actions  of  the  mind 
and  their  relations  to  the  voice,  as  well  as  something  of 
the  general  nature  of  tone  or  sound  and  the  elements 
in  it  which  can  be  improved. 

I.   PRIMARY   PARTS   OF   THE  VOCAL   MECHANISM. 

If  we  examine  a  musical  instrument  we  find  three 
necessary  parts  performing  three  distinct  functions. 
For  example,  in  a  piano  the  mo^ye  power  is  applied 
through  the  keys.  The  length  and  tension  of  the  strings 
give  the  primary  vibrations  and  the  variations  of  pitch 
which,  in  popular  language,  may  be  called  the  "  time." 
The  sounding  board,  and  in  fact,  the  whole  instrument, 
furnishes  the  secondary  vibrations  which  distinguish 
a  piano  from  all  other  instruments.  This  may  be  called 
the  "  tone."  In  the  violin  the  initiatory  force  is  given 
by  the  bow;  the  length  and  tension  of  the  strings  pro- 
duce the  "  tune,"  while  all  parts  vibrate  in  the  "  tone." 
In  the  flute  the  motive  power  is  applied  at  the  mouth. 
The  change  in  the  length  of  the  tube  by  the  fingers  over 
the  openings  furnishes  the  "  tune,"  while  the  body  of 
the  instrument,  whether  of  metal  or  of  wood,  its  shape, 
and  structure,  furnishes  the  "  tone."  So,  in  all  com- 
plete musical  instruments,  these  three  parts  may 
distinguished.  In  the  drum  the  pitch  is  fixed.  There 


8o  MIND   AND   VOICE 

are  no  modulations  of  pitch,  tune  or  melody.  The  motive 
power  and  the  regulation  of  its  rhythm  are  applied  by 
the  drum-stick,  and  as  in  other  cases,  the  entire  instru- 
ment gives  the  tone. 

In  the  human  voice  the  same  three  functions  and  the 
division  of  the  parts  pertaining  to  them  are  found.  The 
parts  controlling  the  breath,  the  diaphragm,  the  thorax, 
and  all  the  inspiratory  and  expiratory  muscles  furnish 
the  motive  power.\  The  cartilages  and  muscles  of  the 
larynx,  by  changing  the  length  and  tension  of  the  vocal 
bands,  produce  variations  of  pitch,  such  as  inflexions, 
the  vocal  form,  or  "  tune."  The  pharynx,  the  tone 
passage  and  the  chambers  connected  with  it  and  indeed 
the  whole  body,  with  every  change  of  the  muscles  caused 
by  the  diffusion  of  emotion,  vibrate  sympathetically 
producing  the  secondary  vibrations  of  the  tone. 

To  increase  the  efficiency  of  any  musical  instrument 
it  is  necessary  to  improve  these  three  functions.  The 
parts  furnishing  the  motive  power,  those  supplying  the 
tune,  and  those  producing  the  tone  must  be  specifically 
developed  and  their  functions  separated  more  definitely, 
while  at  the  same  time  all  these  are  brought  into  greater 
harmony. 

The  human  voice  is  no  exception.  To  improve  it 
every  part  performing  any  function  hi  voice  production 
must  be  understood  as  far  as  possible,  and  the  method 
of  performing  its  office  developed  and  harmonized  with 
the  other  functions.  More  specifically,  we  must  develop 
a  normal,  easy,  and  yet  sympathetic  control  over  the 
breath;  improve  the  vibratory  power  of  the  vocal  bands 
by  removing  unnecessary^  activities  and  interferences 
and  localize  their  function.  We  must  secure  greater 
openness  of  the  tone  passage  by  removing  constrictions 
from  all  its  parts  and  developing  its  harmonious  rela- 
tionship to  the  other  primary  parts  and  its  sympathetic 
j oneness  with  the  whole  body.  In  training  the  voice  the 


RESPIRATORY   CO-ORDINATIONS  8l 

motive  power  should  be  developed  first,  because  this 
provides  the  material  of  the  tone  as  well  as  gives  force 
to  initiate  the  vibration.  It  also  furnishes  the  primary 
agent  for  the  sympathetic  vibrations.  But  most  import- , 
ant  of  all,  if  the  first  hypothesis  suggested  be  correct,  the 
right  action  of  other  parts  of  the  vocal  mechanism  is 
secured  by  co-ordination  with  the  right  action  of  breath- 
ing. The  correct  use  of  the  breath  is,  in  fact,  the  centre 
of  *the  whole  vocal  process.  Other  things  being  equal, 
the  more  breath  we  have  the  stronger  the  voice,  and  the 
better  our  control  over  the  breathing,  the  more  sym- 
pathetic its  relation  with  all  parts  of  the  body  and  to  the 
primary  powers  of  the  mind  —  the  more  responsive  and 
expressive  is  the  voice. 

II.   BREATHING   AND  THE   GENERIC   CO-ORDINATION. 

Of  all  the  functions  of  the  body,  breathing  is  the  most 
central  and  the  most  directly  related  to  vital  conditions. 
Health  and  strength  depend  primarily  upon  normal 
breathing.  Life  'begins  and  ends  with  breath.  •-  All 
writers  on  long  life  give  as  an  invariable  sign  of  longevity 
the  character  of  the  breathing.  Its  right  use  is  the  best 
physical  agent  for  avoiding  disease.  Anyone  can  prove 
this  by  thorough  and  systematic  breathing,  accentuating 
it  at  the  beginning  of  a  "  cold."  The  best  means  of 
controlling  moods,  discouragement,  or  any  negative 
emotional  condition',  is  through  breathing.  All  control 
of  emotion  and  f  eeling  hi  man  is  directly  associated  with 
the  control  of  his  bre.ath. 

It  is  no  cause  for  wonder,  therefore,  that  the  produc- 
tion of  tone,  which  is  a  primary  basis  not  only  of  vocal 
expression  but  also  of  spoken  language,  should  centre 
in  breathing. 

The  faults  associated  with  incorrect  use  of  breath 
should  be  the  first  to  receive  attention  in  vocal  training. 
Constrictions  must  be  removed  from  the  diaphragm  and 


82  MIND   AND   VOICE 

respiratory  muscles  and  their  normal  functions  estab- 
lished before  the  condition  of  the  voice  and  the  character 
of  its  perversions  can  really  be  determined.  When  such 
constrictions  are  removed  from  the  breathing  they 
frequently  disappear  from  the  tone.  Control  of  the 
breath  will  especially  help  those  whose  weakness  of 
voice  or  of  health  is  directly  associated  with  the  respi- 
ratory mechanism  and  actions,  and  also  those  suffering 
from  misuse  of  the  voice. 

These  statements,  however,  are  general.  A  knowl- 
edge of  the  triple  function  of  the  vocal  mechanism  hardly 
gives  a  key  to  the  work  of  vocal  training. 

If  we  consider  the  action  of  any  musical  instrument  we 
find  there  is  one  part  which  acts,  while  the  others  are  acted 
upon.  We  do  not  play  the  violin  upon  the  bow,  but  the 
bow  upon  the  violin. 

Similarly  we  find  that  the  active  impulse  in  making 
tone  conies  from  the  breath,  while  the  vocal  bands  are 
acted  upon  and  the  whole  tone  passage  is  passive  and 
open.  We  discover  later  that  the  pharynx  and  the  larynx 
are  passive  in  a  different  sense,  and  that  there  are  two 
co-ordinations,  one  in  each,  both  connected  with  the 
breathing.  But  in  general,  the  other  two  functions  may 
be  brought  in  direct  contrast  to  the  control  of  breath. 
The  breath  is  active ;  they  are  acted  upon. 

Now,  if  we  compare  these  facts  with  our  fundamental 
principle,  we  learn  that  the  principle  is  perfectly  con- 
sistent with  them  as  regards  the  action  of  any  musical 
instrument.  At  the  instant  of  receiving  any  great  sur- 
prise, or  of  making  an  exclamation,  there  is  a  co-ordina- 
tion of  activity  in  the  middle  of  the  body  and  passivity 
at  the  throat;  that  is  to  say,  the  vocal  mechanism  is 
attuned  or  prepared  for  its  work.  In  proportion  to  the 
degree  of  excitement  or  earnestness  do  we  find  increase 
in  the  activity  of  the  diaphragm  and  passivity  of  the 
throat  in  exact  correspondence. 


RESPIRATORY    CO-ORDINATIONS  83 

Further,  we  perceive  in  studying  carefully  the  actions 
of  the  throat  that  it  can  be  opened  only  through  the  action 
of  the  breathing,  and  this,  too,  when  acted  upon  by 
imagination  or  by  the  reception  of  a  vivid  impression. 

In  order  to  establish  the  condition  which  we  have 
found  to  be  fundamental,  we  must  direct  our  attention 
to  the  part  over  which  active  control  must  first  be  se- 
cured. The  other  conditions  of  voice  are  more  or  less 
resultant  co-ordinations  of  the  correct  management  of 
the  breath.  The  human  will  must  command  the  breath 
as  the  motive  power  at  the  initiation  of  the  tone. 
Though  the  voice  is  not  a  mechanical  instrument,  it 
must  be  attuned  or  trained  before  expression  can  be 
adequate.  This  attunement  is  not  a  separate  matter, 
but  a  part  of  the  direct  response  of  the  vocal  mechanism 
and  the  whole  body  to  thought  and  feeling. 

The  right  management  of  the  breath,  therefore, 
furnishes  us  with  a  clew  as  to  the  place  to  begin  the 
work  of  voice  development.  Every  condition  of  voice 
starts  with  sympathetic  retention  of  the  breath.  The 
lungs  provide  the  material  for  tone  and  the  material 
and  its  control  are  first  necessary. 

Here  also  do  we  find  the  right  action  of  the  motive 
centres  causing  all  other  parts  to  respond  properly.  It 
seems  the  key  to  all  the  mysterious  co-ordinations  con- 
cerned in  tone  production. 


III.   HOW  BREATHING  FURNISHES  THE  MOTIVE  POWER. 

One  of  the  greatest  difficulties  in  vocal  training,  and 
even  hi  understanding  how  to  improve  the  voice,  is  the 
action  of  the- breath  in  producing  tone. 

One  of  the  first  mistakes  the  student  makes  is  in 
respect  to  the  proper  nature  and  action  of  the  motive 
power  of  his  voice. 

He  nearly  always  endeavors  to  produce  tone  by  a 


84  MIND   AND   VOICE 

direct  expulsive  action  of  his  expiratory  muscles.  I 
once  heard  a  physician  —  who  was  in  fact,  the  leader  of 
physical  training  in  his  day  —  laugh  at  those  who  talked 
about  the  diaphragm,  and  declare,  "  I  breathe  with  my 
abdominal  muscles."  It  was  astonishing  to  me  that  he 
did  not  know  that  these  are  expiratory  muscles.  How 
he  could  get  breath  by  them  seems  a  profound  mystery. 
To  bring  in  the  action  of  these  abdominal  muscles 
secures  the  motor  action  with  too  little  breath,  and  this 
constricts  the  throat,  makes  the  tone  mechanical,  and 
destroys  the  right  co-ordinate  relations  between  the 
tone  passage  and  the  diaphragm,  or  between  the  latter 
and  the  vocal  bands. 

The  motive  power  of  the  voice  results  from  a  number 
of  complex  but  sympathetic  and  perfectly  natural  causes. 

The  lungs  are  composed  of  about  half  a  million  cells. 
When  full  of  air  these  cells,  composed  as  they  are  of 
elastic  tissue  without  any  muscular  fibers,  will  tend  to 
throw  the  breath  out,  and  the  greater  the  amount  of 
air  in  the  lungs  the  greater  will  be  this  tendency.  This 
constitutes  the  primary  element  hi  the  motive  power  of 
the  voice.  It  is  secured  indirectly;  that  is,  by  taking 
air  into  the  lungs;  not  by  forcing  breath  out  by  the 
expiratory,  but  by  sustaining  the  tension  of  the  in- 
spiratory,  muscles. 

In  addition  to  the  sympathetic  elasticity  of  the  lung 
cells,  there  is  at  least  one  other  activity  which  forcibly 
expels  the  breath.  When  the  lungs  are  full  of  air  the 
vital  organs  are  pressed  downward  and  outward,  and 
these  will  spontaneously  return  to  their  normal  place. 
Thus,  the  resilience  of  the  vital  organs,  and  of  the  ab- 
dominal and  thoracic  walls,  all  tend  to  expel  the  breath. 

How  is  this  breath  regulated  in  the  act  of  making 
tone?  By  the  muscles  that  cause  the  breath  to  be  taken. 

Hence,  the  great  importance  of  studying  the  inspira- 
tory  muscles.  The  chief  of  these  is  the  diaphragm,  so 


RESPIRATORY    CO-ORDINATIONS  85 

important  an  organ  that  someone  has  said,  "  If  the 
diaphragm  is  right  all  the  other  respiratory  muscles  will 
be  right."  Here  lies  the  chief  difficulty  in  the  control 
of  breath;  in  taking  it  the  diaphragm  becomes  active. 
How  can  this  muscle  regulate  outgoing  breath? 

Muscles  have  three  kinds  of  contraction:  concentric 
or  the  ordinary  contraction,  in  which  the  muscle  shortens 
itself  and  directly  produces  the  movement  or  action; 
static  contraction,  in  which  the  muscle  stays  its  tension 
at  a  certain  point;  eccentric  contraction,  in  which  the 
muscle  gradually  lengthens  or  gives  up  its  tension. 
The  first  is  easiest  to  control;  to  secure  command 
over  the  second  and  third  requires  more  patience  and 
care. 

Now  it  can  be  seen  at  once  that  the  motive  power 
of  the  voice  is  regulated  and  controlled  by  the  eccentric 
action  of  the  diaphragm.  To  gain  control  of  this,  there- 
fore, not  only  must  we  strengthen  the  inspiratory  muscles 
and  the  power  to  take  a  great  deal  of  air  into  the  lungs, 
but  there  must  be  careful  development  of  retental  force. 
In  other  words,  we  must  be  able  to  give  up  breath 
gradually  and  stay  the  tension  of  the  diaphragm.  That 
is  we  must  get  control  of  the  eccentric  contraction  of 
the  diaphragm  and  of  the  associated  inspiratory 
muscles. 

Here  then  we  have  a  statement  of  the  real  character 
of  the  motive  power  of  the  voice,  and  we  can  see  a 
reason  for  the  difficulty  in  controlling  it.  This,  however, 
is  not  so  great  as  may  be  imagined;  after  a  thorough 
understanding  of  what  is  needed  the  student  will  be 
enabled  to  master  it  with  comparative  ease.  The  uni- 
versal tendency  to  talk  about  breathing  "  with  the  ab- 
dominal muscles,"  entirely  overlooks  the  fundamental 
character  of  the  control  of  breath.  The  abdominal 
muscles  are  expiratory,  and  when  brought  into  activity 
in  opposition  to  the  inspiratory  muscles  they  increase 


86  MIND    AND   VOICE 

what  Dr.  Merkel  calls  the  "  vocal  struggle."  But  in 
proportion  to  the  activity  of  the  expiratory  muscles  the 
tendency  to  send  out  breath  will  be  increased.  Now, 
the  less  the  air  in  the  lungs  the  less  will  be  the  outward 
pressure  of  the  breath  and  the  more  necessary  will  it 
be  to  use  the  expiratory  muscles  to  force  it  out  to  make 
tone.  The  less  the  breath  in  the  lungs,  the  less  will  this 
motive  power  come  from  its  normal  source,  that  is,  from 
the  elasticity  of  the  lung  cells  and  the  resiliency  of  the 
abdominal  walls  and  vital  organs.  When  the  lungs  are 
almost  empty  there  is,  of  course,  no  need  of  activity  in 
the  inspiratory  muscles  to  retain  the  breath.  On  the 
contrary,  in  proportion  to  the  amount  of  air  in  the  lungs 
will  the  action  of  the  inspiratory  muscles  be  necessary 
to  retain  the  breath  while  that  of  the  expiratory  muscles 
will  be  unnecessary  to  secure  the  expiratory  action  to 
produce  tone.  It  may  be  stated  as  a  law  that  in  propor- 
tion to  the  transcendence  of  the  activity  of  the  diaphragm 
and  the  inspiratory  over  the  expiratory  muscles  will  there 
be  a  more  normal,  easy,  and  resonant  tone.  At  any  rate, 
attention  must  be  directed  not  to  the  expiratory  but  to 
the  inspiratory  action  in  the  study  and  development  of 
the  motive  power  of  the  voice. 

On  taking  the  first  step  toward  developing  normal 
actions  of  breathing  it  is  important  to  distinguish  the 
easiest  method  of  taking  the  greatest  amount  of  air  and 
of  avoiding  all  labored  and  unnecessary  effort.  Breath- 
ing in  sleep  is  largely  involuntary,  and  even  in  waking 
hours  we  rarely  breathe  by  direct  act  of  will.  Whenever 
conscious  attention  and  voluntary  effort  are  directed  to 
the  increased  and  more  adequate  control  of  breathing 
there  arises  an  almost  universal  tendency  to  interfere 
with  the  natural  process.  Too  much  effort  is  usually 
introduced,  and  in  nearly  every  case  the  labor  is  expir- 
atory or  expulsive,  and  does  not  mean  the  taking  in  of 
more  breath  and  its  easy  and  sympathetic  retention. 


RESPIRATORY    CO-ORDINATIONS  87 

Mr.  Shakespeare,  with  whom  I  once  had  the  honor  of 
studying,  advised:  "  Never  give  breathing  lessons;  give 
rather  boxing  lessons."  With  all  respect  to  this  eminent 
authority,  difficult  and  dangerous  as  the  task  of  improv- 
ing breathing  is,  the  teacher  who  neglects  it  will  make 
slow  progress  and  often  fail  to  correct  the  most  glaring 
and  fundamental  faults. 


VII.   EDUCATION   OF  BREATHING 

Breathing  as  the  motiye  power  of  the  voice  would  be 
an  easy  matter  it  men  used  their  breath  normally.  But 
of  all  functions  close  to  man's  life,  this  is  apt  to  be  the 
most  perverted  and  abnormal. 

Therefore,  before  beginning  the  development  of  the 
right  retention  and  management  of  the  breath  in  tone 
production,  it  is  necessary  first  to  study  the  action  of 
breathing  as  a  whole,  and  note  whether  it  is  easy 
and  normal,  or  labored  and  abnormal.  What  is  the 
simplest  method  of  taking  a  great  amount  of  air?  Is 
there  a  correct  and  an  incorrect  method  of  breathing  in 
life  and  in  the  use  of  the  voice? 

Nature  has  many  methods  of  breathing.  If  a  man  be 
shot  or  wounded  on  one  side,  nature  substitutes  other 
parts  for  the  one  that  is  weakened  and  breathing  is 
centred  more  on  the  other  side.  If  the  diaphragm  be 
constricted,  the  breath  is  concentrated  more  in  the  upper 
part  of  the  chest  and  develops  a  certain  flexibility  even 
in  the  bones,  but  all  this  implies  accident  or  interfer- 
ence with  nature.  Nature  may  accommodate  vital  func- 
tions to  abnormal  conditions  yet  by  the  normal  method, 
and  upon  the  intended  centre  of  breathing  must  all 
power  be  developed. 

In  the  use  of  the  voice  man  may  breathe  in  many  ways 
from  perverted  habit;  he  may  do  this  by  lifting  his 
shoulders,  at  the  side  by  movement  of  his  ribs,  or  by 


88  MIND   AND  VOICE 

forced  action  of  the  abdominal  muscles.  None  of  these, 
however,  may  be  natural,  but  the  result  of  habit  or  of 
some  kind  of  interference. 

I.  THE  NORMAL  CENTRE  OF  BREATHING. 

What  is  the  natural  or  normal  method  of  breathing? 
In  what  part  of  the  body  should  the  activity  centre? 

To  decide  this  requires  careful  observation  since  it 
is  of  great  importance  to  begin  at  the  centre  of  the 
process  of  tone  production. 

One  answer  may  be  found  in  attention  to  the  sleep 
of  as  normal  and  healthy  a  person  as  possible.  Observe, 
for  example,  a  child;  the  whole  torso  is  flexible,  and 
breathing  centres  in  the  middle  of  the  body.  It  is  not 
located  here  mechanically;  there  is  simply  a  predomi- 
ance  of  activity  at  this  point. 

Of  course,  breathing  in  sleep  is  involuntary  and  has  a 
different  rhythm  from  its  action  in  making  tone;  but 
it  is  hi  unconscious  and  involuntary  actions  that  the 
primary  intentions  of  nature  are  found.  In  a  normal 
person  breathing  centres  in  involuntary  uses  of  the 
breath;  and  there  it  must  centre  in  all  tone  production. 

By  introducing  labor  the  student  can  force  his  breath 
seemingly  to  the  abdomen,  lift  his  shoulders  and  collar 
bone,  or  breathe  at  the  side ;  but  all  these  require  effort. 
The  central  action  is  the  easiest  method  and  the  most 
natural.  Qfesfio&e  the  physical  effort  of  a  man  in  lifting. 
There  is  a  focussing  of  the  breath  in  the  middle  of  the 
body.  It  is  the  diaphragm  which  is  the  central  agent 
for  the  control  of  feeling.  Anyone  struggling  for  self- 
command  in  pain  will  show  action  in  the  middle  of  the 
body.  When  one  gets  control  of  his  diaphragm  he  has 
self-command.  The  centre  of  the  body,  accordingly,  is 
the  centre  of  command  over  feeling  and  energy. 

Another  observation  should  be  the  involuntary  vocal 
actions  such  as  sighing  and  sobbing,  and  especially 


RESPIRATORY   CO-ORDINATIONS  89 

laughing.  All  normal,  hearty  laughter  centres  its  activ- 
ity in  the  middle  of  the  body,  although  the  agitation  may 
be  seemingly  all  through  the  torso.  ^After  some  humor- 
ous performance  or  lecture  of~after  a  long  period  of 
laughter  a  man  feels  weary  in  the  middle  of  the 
body. 

It  should  be  observed  that  the  lungs  are  broadest  at 
the  base,  also  that  the  thorax  is  a  bony  box  in  which  the 
lungs  are  encased.  Note  that  the  lower  ribs  are  "  float- 
ing," or  only  indirectly  attached  to  the  breast  bone,  and 
that  the  cartilage  which  attaches  the  other  ribs  to  the 
sternum  is  much  longer  in  the  case  of  the  lower  ribs 
than  of  the  upper  ones.  All  this  shows  that  the  thorax 
is  meant  to  be  flexible  at  the  base. 

Observe  further  that  there  is  a  heavy  bone  at  the 
summit  of  the  thorax,  and  that  there  are  no  bones  at 
the  base  of  the  lungs. 

Notice  the  peculiar  location  and  character  of  the  dia- 
phragm which  divides  the  torso  by  a  kind  of  double 
arch;  remember  also  that  it  is  a  muscle  whose  fibres 
run  in  all  directions.  Observe  the  effect  of  the  con- 
traction of  the  diaphragm  upon  the  stomach  and  the 
relation  of  its  action  to  the  peristaltic  action  of  the  diges- 
tive function.  Persons  suffering  much  from  indigestion 
are  likely  to  have  some  limitation  in  breathing,  and 
especially  in  the  free  and  vigorous  movement  of  the 
diaphragm. 

What  unprejudiced  eye  can  look  at  all  these  facts, 
at  the  structure  of  man's  respiratory  organs  in  their 
completeness,  and  not  see  at  once  nature's  intention? 

The  student  should  be  cautioned  against  choosing 
for  study  persons  who  have  been  abnormally  constricted ; 
as  for  example,  women  who  have  practiced  tight  lacing 
in  order  to  make  their  bodies  correspond  to  some  false 
ideal  of  the  human  form.  The  lower  ribs  may  be  brought 
together  so  closely  as  to  change  completely  the  shape 


90  MIND   AND    VOICE 

of  the  thorax.  The  lower  floating  ribs  may  have  been 
brought  so  near  together  that  free,  central  respiratory 
action  becomes  impossible.  Even  the  vital  organs 
are  out  of  their  normal  place.  Hence,  such  persons 
are  compelled  to  develop  breathing  at  the  summit  of  the 
chest,  and  this  part  may  become  quite  flexible  and  the 
breathing  show  a  continual  heaving  upward  and  down- 
ward of  the  collar  bone  and  the  upper  part  of  the  thorax. 
Observation  of  such  people,  accordingly,  can  furnish  no 
test  of  normal  action.  Even  when  the  constrictions  of 
the  abnormal,  health-destroying  cages  around  the  part 
meant  to  be  the  centre  of  breathing  are  removed,  nature 
has  been  so  perverted  by  habit  that  she  is  unable  to 
restore  her  normal  method.  If  we  observe  carefully 
those  who  use  the  voice  easily  and  well,  in  almost  every 
instance  vocal  conditions  or  the  possibilities  of  the  voice 
are  indicated  by  this  normal  action  of  breathing. 

The  main  activity  in  all  breathing  should  be  not  at 
one  particular  spot  but  in  the  middle  of  the  body.  The 
predominant  action  should  correspond  with  the  centre  of 
gravity,  and  in  all  the  work  of  developing  the  voice  this 
normal  condition  should  be  studied. 

As  a  preliminary  step  in  the  education  of  breathing, 
every  student  should  lie  flat  upon  his  back  on  a  couch 
without  interference  and  breathe  easily,  naturally,  and 
continuously  for  some  time,  and  as  lazily  as  in  sleep, 
being  careful  not  to  introduce  any  will.  He  must  dis- 
cover the  natural  tendencies  of  his  own  breathing. 
Breathing  in  sleep  is  involuntary,  and  the  voluntary 
element  introduced  in  breathing  for  voice  must  be 
carefully  co-ordinated  with  the  involuntary  life  breathing. 

Now  let  him  take  a  little  more  breath  than  usual,  but 

Exerciser.     ^e  careful  to  take  &  at  the  same  spot,  hold 

BreathSg— i  ^  an  ms*ant>  an(i  then  give  it  up,  and  repeat 

many  times.    He  should  carefully  distinguish 

the  entrance  and  exit  of  his  will  from  his  life  breathing. 


RESPIRATORY   CO-ORDINATIONS  QI 

The  student  will  observe  that  a  healthy  mail  in  sleep, 
or  lying  upon  the  back,  breathes  naturally  in  the  middle 
of  the  body,  that  is,  the  predominant  activity  is  all  through 
the  centre  of  the  torso.  In  introducing  his  will  he  should 
be  careful  to  accentuate  the  centrality  of  all  actions, 
though  not  localizing  it  at  a  definite  point,  nor  emphasiz- 
ing some  action  not  found  in  sleep. 

As  a  true  exercise  must  be  the  accentuation  of  a 
fundamental  action,  and  since  breathing  in  the  middle 
of  the  body  is  a  primary  and  natural  process,  we  can 
easily  accentuate  this  central  action  in  such  a  way  as 
to  localize  and  develop  the  functioning  of  the  parts. 

Sit  erect,  making  sure  that  the  spine  is  vertical,  that 
the  hips  are  well  back  in  the  chair,  and  the  Exerclse  I5 


chest  slightly  and  harmoniously   expanded,  ^ 


but  with  every  part  of  the  body,  including 
the  feet  and  lower  limbs,  relaxed.  In  this  position, 
inhale  air,  feeling  it  arrive  in  the  middle  of  the  body; 
hold  it  for  an  instant,  and  then  allow  it  to  pass  outward. 
The  action  must  first  of  all  be  easy  and  there  should 
be  no  constriction  at  any  point.  The  first  exercise  is 
merely  to  feel  the  sense  of  the  arrival  and  departure 
of  breath.  This  must  be  followed  by  an  accentuation 
of  the  action,  that  is,  of  the  amount  of  breath,  but  the 
expulsion  must  be  gradual  and  easy,  and  not  due  to 
the  introduction  of  new  muscular  actions. 

Even  this  simple  exercise  will  not  be  fully  accom- 
plished by  some  whose  normal  condition  has  been  per- 
verted by  dress,  or  by  weakness  of  the  muscles  in  the 
centre  of  the  body. 

The  same  exercise  may  be  taken  by  the  student  lying 
on  his  back  in  as  passive  a  condition  as  possible.  In 
this  position  he  can  note  the  arrival  and  departure  of 
his  breath  without  any  interference.  The  breathing 
may  be  as  spontaneous  and  as  involuntary  as  it  is  in 
sleep;  but  the  moment  he  increases  the  inspiratory 


Q2  MIND   AND  VOICE 

action,  takes  in  a  little  more  air  than  his  average,  or 
holds  it. a  little  longer  than  usual,  he  has  introduced  his 
will,  and  the  free,  natural  movement  has  been  trans- 
formed into  a  technical  exercise.  In  proportion  as  he 
can  accentuate  this  additional  inspiratory  action  in  breath- 
ing without  introducing  any  constriction,  or  making  any 
change  in  the  parts  used,  he  can  supplement  nature 
without  interfering  with  her  processes. 

In  some  way  the  student  must  be  led  to  feel  the  action 
Exercise  16  °*  *"s  own  diaphragm.  The  teacher  may 
Freedom  ot '  occasionally  adopt  such  expedients  as  having 

Motor  Action.       , 

h\m  try  to  blow  out  a  candle  at  a  distance, 
utter  a  passive,  lazy  whisper,  or  a  sigh,  or  observe  his 
laughter  in  order  to  show  action  in  the  middle  of  the 
body,  and  to  develop  consciousness  of  this.  Or  again, 
the  fingers  may  be  placed  on  the  middle  of  the  body,  and 
breath  drawn  in  causing  the  body  to  press  against  them. 
Then  by  exhalation  the  body  is  allowed  to  move  away 
from  them.  This  experiment,  however,  is  not  one  calling 
for  frequent  repetition. 

These  exercises  help  to  stimulate  the  nerves  of  the 
diaphragm  and  awaken  consciousness  of  its  right 
action. 

Where  there  is  great  constriction  of  the  diaphragm  or 
where  only  one  part  of  it  is  used,  as  is  usually  the  case, 
the  student  should,  after  taking  a  deep  and  sympathetic 
breath,  give  it  out  in  a  whispered  "  Yes  "  or  "  No." 
Let  the  whisper  be  passive.  It  is  to  develop  not  only  a 
consciousness  of  the  outgoing  breath  and  the  fact  that 
it  will  go  out  -of  itself,  but  also  to  develop  a  freedom 
of  the  diaphragm.  Be  sure  that  there  is  a  general 
relaxation.  *  ;  » 

Exercises  in  whispering  are  fatiguing,  especially  to 
those  who  have  a  weakness  in  the  respiratory  mechan- 
ism, but  when  practiced  carefully,  with  a  period  of  rest 
after  every  few  moments,  may  be  really  helpful. 


RESPIRATORY   CO-ORDINATIONS  93 

Still  another  exercise  should  be  the  careful  practice 
of  a  tone,  preferably  a  simple  rising  inflexion.  Exercise  17. 
Use  some  open,  free  vowel,  such  as  "  a,"  coordination 
which  is  the  mother  vowel,  and  the  first  in  ~~L 
all  European  languages.  Allow  this  to  pass  out  with 
the  greatest  freedom.  Do  not  make  the  inflexion  loud, 
but  easy,  and  open.  Be  generous  with  the^expenditure 
of  breath,  allow  the  breath  to  do  almost  what  it  pleases, 
and  there  will  still  be  a  sympathetic  action  or  retention 
of  it  in  the  middle  of  the  body  which  causes  the  tone 
passage  to  be  open  and  the  tone  to  pass  out  freely.  This 
activity  should  be  slight  at  first,  and  the  teacher  should 
be  sure  that  the  student  does  not  constrict  the  diaphragm 
or  force  out  the  breath  to  make  tone  from  the  shoulders 
or  the  summit  of  the  chest.  As  far  as  possible,  the 
motor  power  should  be  the  result  of  the  sympathetic  and 
elastic  action  of  the  lung  cells. 

The  part  to  note  is  that  the  tone  comes  from  the  mid" 
die  of  the  body,  and  that  the  breath  is  released  there. 
Let  the  sense  of  retention  be  slight,  gradually  increasing 
with  the  holding  of  a  greater  amount  of  breath. 

Various  problems  for  centralizing  of  breath  may  be 
adopted,  such  as  exclamations,  commands,  throwing 
tone  to  a  distance,  hearty  and  joyous  laughter.  The 
teacher  must  adopt  problems  of  various  kinds  to  get  the 
student  to  recognize  the  ease  of  his  tone  production 
when  breathing  is  properly  centred.  The  greatest  dif- 
ficulty is  encountered  hi  conditions  of  labor.  Students 
try  to  make  this  breathing  at  the  middle  of  the  body 
instead  of  complying  with  tone  conditions  and  allowing 
the  breath  to  find  its  own  centre.  By  mere  will  it  is 
impossible  for  him  properly  to  centralize  his  breath. 
He  must  have  recourse  to  laughter,  joy,  and  heartiness 
to  establish  ease  in  making  tone.  He  may  observe  the 
parts  and  see  that  they  act  properly,  but  by  the  intro- 
duction of  his  own  will  he  will  introduce  a  constriction 


94  MIND    AND   VOICE 

which  will  be  a  fault  and  at  once  affect  the  throat.  What 
ever  the  state  of  cramp,  or  ease,  or  freedom  in  the  dia- 
phragm, some  corresponding  condition  will  always  be 
found  hi  the  tone  passage. 

II.   RETENTAL   ACTION   OF   BREATHING  IN  VOICE  PRO- 
DUCTION. 

Since  the  tendency  to  expel  the  breath  when  the 
lungs  are  full  is  so  strong  the  most  important 

Exercise  18. 

Retention  of     action  in  controlling  it  after  establishing  a 

Breath,  —  I.  ... 

natural  centre  consists  in  opposing  this 
expiratory  action  by  sympathetic  retention  of  the  air  in 
the  lungs.  This  must  not  be  done  by  shutting  the  vocal 
bands,  but  by  sustaining  the  harmonious  activity  of  all 
the  inspiratory  muscles,  and  especially  of  the  whole 
diaphragm,  for  several  seconds.  Inhale  slowly  and  retain 
a  full  breath  at  first  for  only  five  seconds,  and  then  for 
ten,  gradually  increasing  the  time  until  it  can  be  retained 
for  fifteen  or  twenty  seconds.  Then  allow  the  breath  to 
pass  steadily  and  easily  outward. 

Observe  that  the  initiatory  action  in  the  inhalation  is 
in  the  centre  of  the  body,  and  that  this  activity  is  continu- 
ous from  first  to  last.  It  is  vitally  connected  in  man  with 
the  control  of  his  feelings.  Hence,  there  is  a  natural 
basis  upon  which  vocal  training  can  be  built. 

An  emotional  exercise  can  be  arranged  for  the  cen- 
tral retention  and  control  of  the  breath, 

Exercise  19. 

Retention  of  such  as  laughter,  heartiness,  or  any  deep 
emotional  passage.  Sometimes  princely  dig- 
nity and  resolution,  controlling  the  feelings,  will  tend 
also  to  bring  the  control  of  breath  into  the  centre  of  the 
body.  In  Catherine's  intense  feeling  and  dignified  con- 
trol observe  the  effect  upon  the  breath.  Note  also  the 
effect  on  breathing  of  some  sympathetic  expansive 
emotion,  such  as  is  found  in  the  second  passage,  from 
Browning : 


RESPIRATORY    CO-ORDINATIONS  95 

Queen  Catherine.    Pray  you  keep  your  way; 
When  you  are  called,  return.     Now  the  Lord  help  me ; 
They  vex  me  past  my  patience !    Pray  you  pass  on. 
From  "  Henry  VITJ  "  Shakespeare. 


HOME  THOUGHTS  FROM  ABROAD 

Oh,  to  be  in  England  now  that  April 's  there, 

And  whoever  wakes  in  England  sees,  some  morning,  unaware, 

That  the  lowest  boughs  and  the  brushwood  sheaf 

Round  the  elm-tree  bole  are  in  tiny  leaf, 

While  the  chaffinch  sings  on  the  orchard  bough 

In  England  —  now! 

And  after  April,  when  May  follows 

And  the  white-throat  builds,  and  all  the  swallows ! 

Hark,  where  my  blossomed  pear-tree  in  the  hedge 

Leans  to  the  field  and  scatters  on  the  clover 

Blossoms  and  dewdrops  —  at  the  bent  spray's  edge  — 

That 's  the  wise  thrush:  he  sings  each  song  twice  over 

Lest  you  should  think  he  never  could  recapture 

The  first  fine  careless  rapture ! 

And,  tho'  the  fields  look  rough  with  hoary  dew, 

All  will  be  gay  when  noontide  wakes  anew 

The  buttercups,  the  little  children's  dower 

—  Far  brighter  than  this  gaudy  melon-flower ! 

Robert  Browning. 


The  opposition  between  the  tendency  of  the  breath 
to  go  out  and  the  activity  of  the  inspiratory  muscles  is 
more  or  less  increased  by  activity  in  the  expiratory 
muscles,  but  the  action  of  the  latter  will  be  less  needed 
just  in  proportion  to  the  amount  of  breath  in  the  lungs. 
Accordingly,  to  have  full  control  over  the  voice  one  must 
have  power  to  retain  a  great  deal  of  breath  in  the  lungs 
while  making  tone. 

At  first  the  student  can  make  tone  easily  only  when 
he  has  about  the  normal  average  of  breath  in  his  lungs, 
but  one  of  the  most  important  of  all  steps  is  gradually 
to  increase  the  amount  of  breath  which  can  be  retained 
in  the  lungs  while  making  an  easy  tone. 


96  MIND  AND  VOICE 

The  student  should  feel  his  breath  arrive  and  depart 
Exercise  20.  *n  the  middle  of  the  body.  Then  it  may 
iSJffir?  come  and  go  as  a  passive  whisper.  This 
Actions.  develops  something  of  the  flexibility,  har- 
monious action  and  freedom  of  the  respiratory  muscles. 

The  next  step  is  to  feel  the  breath  depart  in  a  simple 
Exercise  21.  tone.  The  best  is  perhaps  a  rising  inflexion 
cf*rd£tion  on  an  open  vowel,  such  as  "  ah,"  or  "  o." 
The  student  should  be  sure  to  have  more 
breath  in  the  lungs  than  usual  and  increase  this  with 
each  repetition,  taking  care,  as  the  breath  becomes  more 
actively  retained  at  the  initiation  of  the  tone,  not  to  cramp 
or  constrict  but  to  allow  the  tone  to  make  itself  as  easily 
as  possible. 

O,  music!  Thou  who  bringest  the  receding  waves  of  eternity 
nearer  to  the  weary  heart  of  man  as  he  stands  upon  the  shore  and 
longs  to  cross  over !  Art  thou  the  evening  breeze  of  this  life,  or  the 
morning  air  of  the  other  one? 

Jean  Paul  Friedrich  Richter. 

This  statement  is  one  of  the  most  fundamental 
in  all  vocal  training.  How  can  this  retental  action  be 
developed? 

Its  development  must  proceed  slowly  and  gradually, 
and  parallel  every  other  step.  But  the  first  exercise 
toward  it  is  to  have  the  breath  normally  centred,  for 
it  is  useless  and  injurious  to  develop  retental  action  so 
long  as  the  student  may  have  an  abnormal  method  of 
breathing.  If  he  breathes,  for  example,  at  the  top  of  his 
lungs,  he  must  at  first  exercise  with  the  utmost  ease  so 
as  to  establish  right  action  in  the  middle  of  the  body. 
After  this  there  may  succeed  simple  retention  of 
breath. 

The  amount  of  tune  during  which  the  breath  is  re- 
tained is  not  the  "important  point,  for  there  must  be  no 
retention  after  a  sense  of  discomfort  is  felt.  Some 
persons  can  retain  the  breath  much  longer  than  others. 


RESPIRATORY    CO-ORDINATIONS  97 

Many  people  contend  that  their  voices  have  been 
improved  by  no  other  exercise  than  this  simple  inhaling 
of  the  breath  perseveringly  practiced. 

There  are  many  reasons  for  believing  this.  As  a  rule, 
such  improvement  will  be  more  marked  in  those  who 
have  little  control  of  the  breath,  but  as  no  one  has  ade- 
quate power  of  staying  the  tension  of  the  inspiratory 
muscles  everyone  can  receive  some  benefit.  When  the 
lungs  are  full  of  air  all  the  cells  are  expanded  and 
become  more  elastic.  Hence,  the  sympathetic  vibra- 
tion of  the  chest  with  the  vocal  bands  is  dependent 
upon  the  amount  of  breath  retained  in  the  lungs. 

Some  students  will  be  troubled  by  the  small  amount 
of  breath  that  can  be  taken  above  the  average;  others 
by  the  short  time  it  can  be  retained,  but  in  either  case 
regular  practice,  increasing  gradually  both  the  amount 
and  the  tune  of  retention,  will  bring  marked  improvement. 

Laughter  is    an    important    exercise    in    developing 
sympathetic  retention  of  the  breath.     The  Exercise  22. 
student  must  be  sure  to  accentuate  the  con-  contrTof 
ditions  of  this,  not  only  its  genuineness  and  Breath— L 
heartiness  but  the  fact  that  a  genuine  laugh  easily  re- 
serves a  great  deal  of  breath.     Exercises  in  laughter 
should  be  followed  by  the  reading  of  lines  with  the  con- 
ditions of  laughter,  —  that  is,  sentences  and  phrases 
should  be  given  with  all  such  conditions  except  the  spas- 
modic action  of  the  diaphragm. 

Ho,  ho!  ha,  ha!  the  merry  fire! 

Still  another  matter  is  of  importance,  namely,  that 
there  should  not  at  first  be  an  exercise  of  too  much 
loudness,  as  this  brings  in  unnecessary  action  of  the 
expiratory  muscles,  and  leads  to  a  certain  forcing. 
There  should  be  a  soft  tone  with  a  great  amount  of 
breath  in  the  lungs,  and  then  the  easy  and  natural  use 
of  the  voice,  only  with  greater  accentuation  of  the  re- 


Q8  MIND   AND   VOICE 

served  breath.     These  will  accomplish  speedy  results 
and  also  improve  other  vocal  conditions. 

The  practice  of  the  exclamation  is  also  helpful.  Ob- 
Exerciser,  serve  that  in  pain  we  inhale  a  great  amount 
cSSSSfS  of  breath  and  hold  it  in  reserve  as  a  means 
Breath— n.  Qf  controlling  the  condition.  Those  who  can 
control  their  feelings  hi  pain  have  frequently  great 
power  of  packing  the  lungs  with  air.  The  vocal  ex- 
plosion, or  escape  of  breath,  indicates  this  retention. 

GOOD-NIGHT 

Good-night.     Good-night.     Ah,  good  the  night 
That  wraps  thee  in  its  silver  light. 
Good-night.     No  night  is  good  for  me 
That  does  not  hold  a  thought  of  thee. 
Good-night. 

Good-night.    Be  every  night  as  sweet 
As  that  which  made  our  love  complete, 
Till  that  last  night  when  death  shall  be 
One  brief  "  Good-night,"  for  thee  and  me. 

Good-night. 

Dr.  Weir  Mitchell. 

Exclamations,  exultant  words,  and  phrases  or  com- 
mands should  be  practiced  with  every  successive  step, 
the  student  accentuating  the  new  conditions  or  the 
primary  element  in  the  new  step  in  each  case.  It  is 
usually  best  to  review  the  same  exercise  or  the  same 
exclamations  and  extracts  emphasizing  the  newer  con- 
dition and  additional  to  the  former  one. 

In  Dr.  Franklin's  humorous  dialogue  with  the  gout 
Exercise  24.  he  records  his  own  groans  and  the  lecture 
c?nteofofeand  given  him  by  Madam  Gout  regarding  his 
habits  of  eating  and  his  lack  of  exercise. 
The  effect  of  these  groans  is  helpful,  and  if  the  student 
will  interpret  them  and  indicate  in  a  humorous  way 
these  explosions,  assistance  may  be  gained  in  securing 
control  over  the  breath. 


RESPIRATORY    CO-ORDINATIONS  99 

FRANKLIN  AND  THE  GOUT 

Midnight,  Octoter  22, 1780. 

Franklin.  Eh!  oh!  eh!  What  have  I  done  to  merit  these  cruel 
Sufferings? 

Gout.  Many  things:  you  have  ate  and  drank  too  freely,  and  too 
much  indulged  those  legs  of  yours  in  their  indolence. 

Franklin.    Who  is  it  that  accuses  me? 

Gout.    It  is  I,  even  I,  the  Gout. 

Franklin.    What!  my  enemy  in  person? 

Gout.     No,  not  your  enemy. 

Franklin.  I  repeat  it:  my  enemy;  for  you  would  not  only  torment 
my  body  to  death,  but  ruin  my  good  name;  you  reproach  me  as  a 
glutton  and  a  tippler;  now  all  the  world,  that  knows  me,  will  allow 
that  I  am  neither  the  one  nor  the  other. 

Gout.  The  world  may  think  as  it  pleases;  it  is  always  very  com- 
plaisant to  itself,  and  sometimes  to  its  friends;  but  I  very  well  know 
that  the  quantity  of  meat  and  drink  proper  for  a  man  who  takes  a 
reasonable  degree  of  exercise,  would  be  too  much  for  another  who 
never  takes  any. 

Franklin.  I  take  —  eh!  oh!  —  as  much  exercise  —  eh!  —  as 
I  can,  Madam  Gout.  You  know  my  sedentary  state,  and  on  that 
account,  it  would  seem,  Madam  Gout,  as  if  you  might  spare  me  a 
little,  seeing  it  is  not  altogether  my  own  fault. 

Gout.  Not  a  jot;  your  apology  avails  nothing.  You  ought  to 
walk  or  ride;  .  .  .  but  these  are  rejected  for  this  abominable  game 
of  chess.  Fie,  then,  Mr.  Franklin!  But,  amidst  my  instructions, 
I  had  almost  forgot  to  administer  my  wholesome  corrections;  so 
take  that  twinge,  —  and  that! 

Franklin.  Oh!  eh!  oh!  ohhh!  As  much  instruction  as  you 
please,  Madam  Gout,  and  as  many  reproaches;  but  pray,  madam, 
a  truce  with  your  corrections! 

Gout.  No,  sir,  no:  I  will  not  abate  a  particle  of  what  is  so  much 
for  your  good,  —  therefore  — 

Franklin.  Oh!  ehhh!  —  It  is  not  fair  to  say  I  take  no  exercise, 
when  I  do  very  often,  going  out  to  dine,  and  returning  in  my  carriage. 

Gout.  That,  of  all  imaginable  exercises,  is  the  most  slight  and 
insignificant,  if  you  allude  to  the  motion  of  a  carriage  suspended 
on  springs. 

Franklin.    Your  reasonings  grow  very  tiresome. 

Gout.  I  stand  corrected.  I  will  be  silent  and  continue  my  office; 
take  that,  and  that. 

Franklin.    Oh!  Oh!    Talk  on,  I  pray  you! 


100  MIND    AND   VOICE 

Gout.  No,  no;  I  have  a  good  number  of  twinges  for  you  to-night, 
and  you  may  be  sure  of  some  more  to-morrow. 

Franklin.  What!  with  such  a  fever?  I  shall  go  distracted.  Oh! 
Eh !  Can  no  one  bear  it  for  me?  How  can  you  so  cruelly  sport  with 
my  torments? 

Gout.  Sport !  I  am  very  serious.  I  have  here  a  list  of  offences 
against  your  own  health  distinctly  written,  and  can  justify  every 
stroke  inflicted  on  you. 

From  Franklin's  "  Autobiography  " 

It  must  be  remembered,  that  this  retention  is  due  to 
an  imagination  of  pain.  There  will  be  danger  of  physical 
or  abnormal  effort;  the  ease  and  joyous  character  of  the 
general  thought  must  not  be  lost.  The  point  is  to  keep 
the  throat  as  open  and  the  whole  tone  passage  as 
passive  as  possible  while  retaining  much  breath. 

Possibly  a  still  better  exercise  for  centrality  and  ease 
Exercise  25.  m  retention  of  the  breath  is  to  take  some 
control  of54""1  passage  full  of  great  heartiness,  such  as 
Breath— m.  Mr<  Trowbridge's  "Farmer  John  Goes  to 
Town."  The  students  should  accentuate  the  heartiness 
of  the  character.  This  will  cause  sympathetic  expansion 
through  the  whole  body,  and  especially  the  retention  of 
breath. 

Ah  a  happy  man  is  Farmer  John,  — 

O,  a  rich  and  happy  man  is  he ! 
He  sees  the  peas  and  pumpkins  growing, 
The  corn  in  tassle,  the  buckwheat  blowing, 

And  fruit  on  vine  and  tree ; 
The  large,  kind  oxen  look  their  thanks 
As  he  rubs  their  foreheads  and  strokes  their  flanks; 
The  doves  light  round  him,  and  strut,  and  coo ; 
Says  Farmer  John,  "  I'll  take  you  too,  — 
And  you,  old  Bay, 
And  you,  old  Gray, 
Next  time  I  travel  so  far  away !  " 
"  Farmer  John  Goes  to  Town  "  J.  T.  Trowbridge. 

It  is  said  that  women  have  more  flexible  chests  than 
men,  and  that  their  breathing  is  more  easily  centred  in 


RESPIRATORY    CO-ORDINATIONS  'IOI 

the  chest,  but  in  the  study  of  n6rmat  conditions,  so  far 
as  tone  production  is  concerned,  we  find  little  difference. 

III.   LIFE  BREATHING  AND  VOICE   BREATHING. 

It  will  be  seen  at  once  that  the  lungs  must  discharge 
two  functions.  We  must  breathe  for  the  support  of  life 
and  also  for  production  of  tone.  Some  of  the  great- 
est troubles  in  misuse  of  the  voice  arise  from  failure 
properly  to  harmonize  these  two  functions. 

Life  breathing  is  continuous.  Even  though  a  man 
may  be  holding  his  breath  the  mechanical  process  is 
going  on.  The  oxygen  of  the  air  held  in  his  lungs  is  acting 
upon  the  blood  circulating  through  the  pulmonic  system. 
It  is  a  wonderful  fact  that  man  lives  chiefly  on  air.  He 
can  get  along  with  less  food  and  water  but  he  must 
have  a  large  supply  of  air.  It  is  said  by  physiologists 
that  man  breathes  from  eighteen  to  twenty  times  a 
minute.  How  necessary  then  is  pure  air;  how  important 
that  the  lungs  be  normally  exercised.  All  true  physical 
gymnastics  should  aim  to  establish  normal  conditions  of 
breathing.  Other  things  being  equal,  an  exercise  that 
does  not  properly  extend  the  chest  and  give  greater 
freedom  and  sympathetic  expansion  to  the  lungs  is 
injurious  to  health. 

We  can  see,  accordingly,  that  any  use  of  the  voice 
which  interferes  with  life  breathing  would  be  a  serious 
menace  to  health.  Is  there  such  a  danger?  It  is,  in 
fact,  one  of  the  first  difficulties  that  the  teacher  meets. 
If  we  study  the  action  of  breathing  among  speakers  we 
frequently  find  an  interference  between  voice  breathing 
and  life  breathing.  Either  the  man  does  not  take  in  a 
sufficient  amount  of  air,  or  does  not  breathe  frequently 
enough.  I  have  found  the  same  interference  also  on 
the  part  of  singers.  Actors  are  doubtless  more  fre- 
quently liable  than  others  to  this  fault. 

The  chief  cause  of  this  interference  is  mental,  and  it 


102  MIND   AND   VOICE 

ist  in  my;  opinion,  one  of  the  best  arguments  for  the 
psychic  character  of  vocal  training.  At  any  rate,  it  has 
been  the  only  method  by  which  I  could  effectively  secure 
a  right  co-ordination  between  life  and  voice  breathing. 

In  our  first  principle  we  learn  that  with  the  reception 
of  a  vivid  impression  man  takes  breath.  Further  obser- 
vation discloses  that  the  rhythm  of  breathing  for  voice 
is  dominated  by  the  action  of  the  mind.  With  the  re- 
ception of  every  idea,  if  it  is  adequate  and  attention  is 
definite,  there  is  the  taking  of  breath.  Impression, 
therefore,  causes  the  inspiration  of  air  and  expression 
is  associated  with  the  giving  out  of  breath. 

When  persons  think  vaguely  or  abstractly,  or  merely 
repeat  words  mechanically  or  from  memory,  there  is  less 
effect  of  thinking  upon  breathing.  The  speaker  will  not 
only  have  less  breath,  and  breathe  less  frequently,  but 
his  control  of  it  will  be  less  normal  and  rhythmic.  Any- 
one can  prove  this  by  counting  chairs  for  example  in  a 
large  room.  He  will  discover  that  he  stops  occasionally 
to  breathe,  but  that  he  does  this  from  necessity.  The 
breathing  has  nothing  to  do  with  the  mental  action  or 
even  with  the  utterance  of  the  successive  notes. 

Mechanical  expression,  accordingly,  utterance  of 
Exercise  26.  words  for  their  own  sake,  mere  repetition  of 

Co-ordination 

of  mpression  these  from  memory,  or  any  absence  of  gen- 
t£n.— i.  uine  thinking  and  feeling  or  realization  of 
successive  impressions  will  interfere  with  breathing. 
On  the  contrary,  if  we  take  some  passage  with  vivid 
successive  impressions,  and  realize  each  one  intensely 
in  a  natural  and  orderly  sequence,  the  rhythm  of  breath- 
ing is  stimulated;  that  is,  the  person  will  breathe  more 
frequently,  and  will  take  breath  with  each  impression. 

Beloved  of  children,  bards  and  Spring, 
O  birds,  your  perfect  virtues  bring, 
Your  song,  your  forms,  your  rhythmic  flight, 
Your  manners  for  the  heart's  delight, 


RESPIRATORY   CO-ORDINATIONS  103 

Nestle  in  hedge,  or  barn,  or  roof, 

Here  weave  your  chamber  weather-proof, 

Forgive  our  harms,  and  condescend 

To  man,  as  to  a  lubber  friend, 

And,  generous,  teach  his  awkward  race 

Courage  and  probity  and  grace! 
"May-Day"  Emerson. 

Frequency  of  breathing,  accordingly,  or  the  natural 
action  in  breathing  in  response  to  thinking,  may  be 
developed  by  developing  thinking  and  making  the  im- 
pressions more  simple  and  individual.  This  will  at  once 
have  its  effect  upon  breathing. 

It  is  necessary,  however,  in  the  production  of  tone, 
both  for  singing  and  speaking,  to  develop  proper  co- 
ordination between  life  and  voice  breathing.  How  can 
this  be  done? 

If  we  shout  to  a  distance,  or  utter  the  word  "  No ! " 
or  "Halt!"  as  a  sharp  command,  we  take  Exercise  27 
an  unusual  amount  of  breath  to  support  the 
word,  and  immediately  after  uttering  it  we 
release  spontaneously  the  surplus  of  breath  in  the  lungs. 
This  is  the  return  of  the  lungs  from  the  conditions  of 
voice  breathing  to  that  of  life  breathing.  We  call  this 
the  release  of  respiratory  conditions.  It  is,  of  course, 
the  release  of  the  extra  breath  which  is  taken  into  the 
lungs  for  production  of  tone. 

Now  occasionally  we  find  people  that  have.no  such 
surplus.  Many  may  deny  that  we  have  more  breath 
in  the  lungs  in  making  tone  than  we  have  for  life 
breathing,  but  such  persons  should  be  careful  to  ob- 
serve the  fact.  In  all  normal  production  of  tone  voice 
breathing  requires  more  breath  than  does  life  breath- 
ing. When  this  is  not  the  case,  then  the  former  will 
necessarily  interfere  with  the  latter. 

The  amount  of  life  breathing  is  regulated  by  condi- 
tions of  vitality.  When  a  man  sits  he  breathes  more 
than  in  lying  down,  when  standing  he  breathes  even 


104  MIND   AND   VOICE 

more,  in  walking  still  more,  and  in  running  most  of  all. 
The  amount  of  breath  for  voice  is  determined  by  the 
vividness  of  the  impression,  the  intensity  of  the  passion, 
the  struggle  to  control  feeling,  or  by  some  other  psychic 
condition.  Voice  breathing  is  greater  hi  amount.  Its 
frequency  is  determined  by  the  mind,  by  the  method  of 
thinking  and  the  normal  reception  of  individual  impres- 
sions produced  as  a  normal  co-ordination ;  while  ordinary 
or  abstract  thinking  or  exaggeration  of  an  impression 
interferes  with  life  breathing. 

Both  life  and  voice  breathing  should  be  natural  and 
easy,  and  centred  in  the  middle  of  the  body,  but  normal 
life  breathing  is  involuntary  and  usually  unconscious. 
Voice  breathing,  on  the  contrary,  is  in  part  at  least  a 
voluntary  activity,  of  which  man  is  more  conscious  than 
of  life  breathing. 

Render  "  No  "  from  the  following  passage,  strongly 
realizing  Browning's  conviction  that  immortality  must 
be  inferred  from  man's  nature  and  the  truthfulness  of 
his  Creator.  Give  also  other  exclamations  with  inten- 
sity, accentuation  of  the  amount  of  breathing  and  of  its 
fundamental  conditions,  but  observe  that  the  instant 
they  are  given  there  is  a  recoil  of  the  organs  to  easy 
and  normal  life  breathing. 

No,  ah,  no!  for  God  above 
Is  great  to  grant,  as  mighty  to  make, 
And  creates  the  love  to  reward  the  love, 
I  claim  you  still  for  my  own  love's  sake ! 
"  Evelyn  Hope  "  Browning. 

In  giving  such  an  exercise  students  are  likely  to  force 
Exercise  28.  out  a  surplus.  This  is  altogether  vicious.  The 
voiceYo^Se  release  must  be  absolute.  We  can  never  re- 
cover by  will.  Life  breathing  must  be  in- 
voluntary and  the  return  from  voice  to  life  breathing  is 
the  giving  up  of  certain  volitional  actions. 

The  student  should  be  rendered   conscious  of  his 


RESPIRATORY   CO-ORDINATIONS  105 

release  by  making  short  inflexions,  intense  or  thrown 
to  a  distance,  and  observing  the  easy  and  natural  recoil 
of  his  diaphragm  to  life  breathing. 

In  the  act  of  speaking  or  reciting,  when  abnormal 
conditions  are  present,  such  as  sore  throats  or  ner- 
vousness, the  teacher  should  observe  carefully  whether 
during  pauses,  —  especially  during  the  longer  ones,  — 
there  is  a  proper  release  of  the  voice  conditions. 

VIII.     FAULTS   OF  BREATHING 

Modes  of  using  the  breath  are  almost  innumerable. 
The  most  important  have  been  discussed  hi  connection 
with  the  special  steps  indicated  for  the  understanding 
and  especially  for  the  development  of  a  right  control  of 
breathing.  A  few,  however,  may  need  more  adequate 
discussion. 

There  are  numerous  faults  associated  with  life  breath- 
ing. Many  diseases  and  much  pain  would  be  avoided, 
and  life  often  be  greatly  prolonged  by  some  attention 
to  the  development  of  normal  conditions  and  methods 
of  breathing. 

This  book  is  hardly  the  place  to  discuss  such  faults 
and  we  must  mention  briefly  those  only  which  bear 
upon  the  use  of  the  voice.  In  speaking,  many  of  these 
may  be  traced  to  wrong  methods  of  life  breathing. 

I.    FAULTS   OF   RHYTHM. 

All  vital  processes,  such  as  breathing,  must  be  rhyth- 
mic. On  account  of  the  semi-conscious  character  of 
this,  however,  and  the  responsiveness  of  voice  breath- 
ing to  thinking  or  feeling,  of  life  breathing  to  habits, 
there  is  great  danger  of  interfering  with  rhythm.  The 
breathing  of  little  children  may  become  nervous  and 
jerky  from  various  causes,  one  of  which  is  the  develop- 
ment of  timidity  and  lack  of  self-confidence  through 
blame  or  from  continual  scolding  in  order  to  make  them 


106  MIND   AND   VOICE 

more  conventional.  Exposed  to  such  nagging  they 
become  artificial  and  their  breathing  superficial,  losing 
its  deep,  normal,  and  natural  rhythm.  The  conse- 
quences of  this  are  serious,  and  there  ensue  many 
imperfections  not  only  of  voice  but  of  general  health. 

It  is  difficult  to  suggest  remedies.  Rhythmic  plays 
that  involve  easy  and  natural  running;  games  which 
develop  greater  courage  and  confidence;  the  acting  of 
dialogues  and  various  rhythmic  movements  of  the  body, 
especially  when  associated  with  harmonious  expansion 
of  the  chest,  are  all  helpful.  Children  must  be  sent  out 
of  doors,  to  the  country,  or  to  some  play  room,  and  be 
allowed  to  yell  and  shout  to  their  heart's  content. 

The  fault  is  not  confined  to  children.  Few  people  are 
truly  rhythmic  in  breathing.  All  should  take  regular 
walks,  holding  the  chest  high,  and  breathing  vigorously 
but  with  as  much  regularity  and  ease  as  possible. 
The  student  should  breathe  deeply,  easily,  and  regu- 
larly, and  allow  the  rhythm  of  his  breathing  to  cor- 
respond as  far  as  possible  with  that  of  his  walking  or 
running. 

Many  speakers  form  a  kind  of  labored,  monotonous 
Exerciser,  rhythm  of  breathing,  if  it  can  be  called 

CO*  Of  dlUfl,  uOfl 


, 

andinspira011  rhythmic.  This  is  an  injurious  habit,  and 
tion—  ii.  can  be  corrected  by  rendering  of  passages 
with  different  degrees  of  excitement,  or  by  giving  some- 
thing slowly  and  intensely,  making  sure  that  the  rhythm 
of  thinking  dominates  that  of  breathing. 

WHITE  ROSES. 

No  sleep  like  hers,  no  rest, 

In  all  the  earth  to-night: 
Upon  her  whiter  breast 

Our  roses  lie  so  light. 
She  had  no  sins  to  lose, 

As  some  might  say; 
But  calmly  keeps  her  pale  repose 

Till  God's  good  day. 

Ernert  Rhys. 


"RESPIRATORY    CO-ORDINATIONS  107 

Superficial  thinking  causes  one  to  breathe  superficially 
and  seldom;  while  deep,  intense  realization  even  with 
slow  movement  makes  for  deep,  and  even  frequent 
breathing. 

THE  BALLAD  OF  THE  ATTGEL. 

"  Who  is  it  knocking  in  the  night, 

That  fain  would  enter  in?  " 
"  The  ghost  of  Lost  Delight  am  I, 

The  sin  you  would  not  sin, 
Who  comes  to  look  in  your  two  eyes 

And  see  what  might  have  been." 

"  Oh,  long  ago  and  long  ago 

I  cast  you  forth,"  he  said, 
"  For  that  your  eyes  were  all  too  blue, 

Your  laughing  mouth  too  red, 
And  my  torn  soul  was  tangled  in 

The  tresses  of  your  head." 

"  Now  mind  you  with  what  bitter  words 

You  cast  me  forth  from  you?  " 
"  I  bade  you  back  to  that  fair  hell 

From  whence  your  breath  you  drew, 
And  with  great  blows  I  broke  my  heart 

Lest  it  might  follow,  too. 

"  Yea,  from  the  grasp  of  your  white  hands 

I  freed  my  hands  that  day, 
And  have  I  not  climbed  near  to  God 

As  these  His  henchmen  may?  " 
"  Ah,  man,  ah,  man!  't  was  my  two  hands 

That  led  you  all  the  way." 

"  I  hid  my  eyes  from  your  two  eyes 

That  they  might  see  aright." 
"  Yet  think  you  't  was  a  star  that  led 

Your  feet  from  height  to  height? 
It  was  the  flame  of  my  two  eyes 

That  drew  you  through  the  night." 

With  trembling  hands  he  threw  the  door, 

Then  fell  upon  his  knee. 
"  Ah,  armed  vision  cloaked  in  light, 

Why  do  you  honor  me?  " 
"  The  Angel  of  your  Strength  am  I 

Who  was  your  sin,"  quoth  she. 


108  MIND   AND   VOICE 

"  For  that  you  slew  me  long  ago 
My  hands  have  raised  you  high ; 
For  that  you  closed  my  eyes  —  my  eyes 

Are  light  to  lead  you  by. 
And  't  is  my  touch  shall  swing  the  gates 
Of  heaven  when  you  die !  " 

Theodosia  Garrison. 

II.   WEAK   AND   SLUGGISH   BREATHING. 

Many  persons  have  a  kind  of  sluggish  breathing.  They 
breathe  as  if  greatly  fatigued;  often  in  reality  they  are 
constitutionally  tired.  In  general,  the  chest  is  carried  too 
low,  and  the  lungs  are  cramped  by  a  continual  surren- 
der or  collapse  upon  them  of  a  rigid  bony  frame  work. 

There  are  perhaps  few  people  whose  health,  spirits, 
and  power  would  not  be  improved  by  some  attention  to 
breathing.  As  already  shown,  the  lungs  are  at  the 
mercy  of  the  box  in  which  they  are  encased.  When 
a  man  allows  this  to  sink  the  breathing  is  impeded. 
Everyone  should  make  some  experiments  to  discover 
what  control  he  has  over  his  abnormal  conditions  by 
managing  his  breath. 

Let  someone  in  great  weariness  hang  to  a  pole  as 
passively  as  possible  and  inhale  a  deep  breath,  then  lift 
the  weight  on  the  balls  of  the  feet,  giving  out  the  breath. 
Then,  as  before,  let  the  whole  weight  be  supported  by 
the  arms,  taking  another  full  breath  and  giving  out  as 
before.  The  fatigue  will  soon  be  lessened. 

Let  the  student  lie  upon  the  floor  in  weariness  and 
stretch,  breathing  deeply,  giving  up  completely,  feeling 
his  weight  bear  downwards.  Then  have  him  take  a  deep 
breath  hi  union  with  the  stretch,  enjoying  both  as  in 
a  deep  yawn.  He  will  be  surprised  at  the  change  in 
his  feeling. 

Many  people  are  too  weary  to  sleep,  and  need  such 
exercises  as  these  before  retiring.  On  account  of  the 
constrictions  of  the  day,  there  is  interference  with 
breathing  and  the  fatigue  may  cause  too  great  a  collapse 


RESPIRATORY    CO-ORDINATIONS  IOQ 

upon  the  lungs,  so  that  when  such  a  person  is  asleep  the 
breathing  is  irregular  and  weak.  One  should  never  lie 
down  to  sleep  without  passing  into  a  normal  condition 
of  mind  and  body. 

By  practicing  these  or  other  exercises,  or  by  laughing 
heartily,  one  may  entirely  throw  off  a  "  cold  "  by  quick- 
ening the  circulation. 

In  pantomimic  expression  it  will  be  shown  that  the 
torso  expresses  volition:  its  relaxation  means  insensi- 
bility of  will ;  its  expansion  animation  of  will.  Hence,  it 
can  be  seen  that  to  correct  such  breathing  there  must  be 
some  education  of  the  voluntary  nature. 

The  man  must  cultivate  courage  and  hope,  walk  with 
more  joyous  self-assertion,  and  a  more  elastic  step. 
Not  only  should  his  weight  be  carried  forward  on  the  feet, 
his  chest  be  expanded,  but  he  himself  must  be  full  of 
animation  and  earnestness. 

Much  has  been  said   regarding  control   of  breath, 
persevering  practice  of  deep  breathing,  or  Exercise  30. 
holding  it  for  a  short  time  to  correct  abnor-  8feeeBr?atL 
mal  and  even  pathological  conditions  in  the  ing~n- 
physical  body.    The  hah5,  however,  has  not  been  dis- 
cussed.   One  who  wishes  to  grow  .strong,  to  preserve  his 
health,  and  to  do  a  great  amount  of  work  in  the  world, 
must  form  the  habit  of  deep  breathing  on  rising  every 
morning  and  on  retiring  at  night.     With  a  few  simple 
gymnastics  in  addition  to  the  exercises   in  breathing, 
sounder  sleep  may  be  induced,  and  in  the  morning  the 
circulation  can  be  equalized  and  'the  man  go  forth  with 
exhilaration  and  joy. 

Since,  as  previously  shown,  man  breathes  many 
thousand  times  a  day,  while  he  takes  water  only  six 
or  eight  times  and  food  about  three  times,  we  can  re- 
alize the  marvelous  power  he  can  gain  by  breathing 
pure  air  freely,  deeply,  and  fully,  and  keeping  in  active 
condition  the  muscles  concerned  in  respiration. 


HO  MIND   AND   VOICE 

An  erect  posture  should  also  be  cultivated,  and  such 
gymnastic  exercises  taken  every  morning  as  will  develop 
the  muscles  that  keep  the  chest  active  in  sitting  as  well 
as  in  standing. 

There  are  many  faults  which  greatly  affect  the  whole 
bearing  and  expression  of  the  man,  fetter  the  breath- 
ing and  interfere  with  the  normal  motor  action  in  the 
use  of  the  voice.  Pantomimic  should  accompany  vocal 
training. 

Agility  or  flexibility  of  breathing  may  be  established 
_  .  .  by  practicing  passages  full  of  great  weight, 

ixercise  31.  ( 

Flexibility  of   requiring   slowness   of   movement,   m   con- 

JBfCA uXlH£  • 

trast  with  passages  of  great  excitement.  It 
should  be  observed  that  both  require  frequent  breath- 
ing, but  the  rhythm  of  taking  the  breath  is  different  hi 
the  two  emotional  conditions. 

I  sprang  to  the  stirrup,  and  Joris,  and  he, 
I  galloped,  Dick  galloped,  we  galloped  all  three.  .  .  . 
Not  a  word  to  each  other,  we  kept  the  great  pace, 
Neck  by  neck,  stride  by  stride,  never  changing  our  place. 
4 '  Ride  from  Ghent  to  Aiz  "  Browning. 

PIRATE  STORY. 

Three  of  us  afloat  in  the  meadow  by  the  swing, 
Three  of  us  abroad  in  the  basket  on  the  lea. 

Winds  are  in  the  air,  they  are  blowing  in  the  spring, 
And  waves  are  on  the  meadow  like  the  waves  there  are 
at  sea. 

Where  shall  we  adventure,  to-day  that  we  're  afloat, 
Wary  of  the  weather  and  steering  by  a  star? 

Shall  it  be  to  Africa,  a-steering  of  the  boat, 
To  Providence,  or  Babylon,  or  off  to  Malabar? 

Hi !  but  here 's  a  squadron  a-rowing  on  the  sea  — 

Cattle  on  the  meadow  a-charging  with  a  roar! 
Quick,  and  we  '11  escape  them,  they  're  as  mad  as  they 

can  be, 
The  wicket  is  the  harbor  and  the  garden  is  the  shore. 

Robert  Louis  Stevenson. 


RESPIRATORY   CO-ORDINATIONS  III 

Wise,  of  a  wisdom  far  beyond  our  shallow  depth,  was  that  old 
precept:  Watch  thy  tongue;  out  of  it  are  the  issues  of  life!  "  Man 
is  properly  an  incarnated  word:"  the  word  that  he  speaks  is  the  man 
himself.  Were  eyes  put  into  our  head,  that  we  might  see,  or  only 
that  we  might  fancy,  and  plausibly  pretend,  we  had  seen?  Was 
the  tongue  suspended  there,  that  it  might  tell  truly  what  we  had 
seen,  and  make  man  the  souPs-brother  of  man;  or  only  that  it  might 
utter  vain  sounds,  jargon,  soul-confusing,  and  so  divide  man,  as 
by  enchanted  walls  of  Darkness,  from  union  with  man? 

Carlyle. 

III.   MOUTH   BREATHING. 

Many  physiologists  and  physicians  have  contended 
that  the  chief  cause  of  sore  throats  is  the  habit  of  breath- 
ing through  the  mouth.  Accordingly,  teachers  have 
made  students  deliberately  close  the  mouth  and  inhale 
air  through  the  nose. 

This  has  induced  a  variety  of  mechanical  constrictions 
and  has  led  some  to  breathe  consciously,  voluntarily, 
and  too  seldom.  Proper  reception  of  breath  must  be 
the  spontaneous  effect  of  receiving  a  mental  impression. 
Even  the  amount  of  breath  will  be  regulated  by  the  in- 
tensity of  thinking  and  feeling.  Frequency  will  also 
be  mentally  or  self-determined. 

Yet  an  important  truth  may  be  perceived  hi  the  fact 
that  man  should  breathe  through  the  nostrils.  If  he 
is  speaking  out  of  doors,  and  will  take  an  easy,  deep 
breath  through  the  nose  he  will  be  better  able  to  relax 
his  throat.  In  many  ways  it  can  be  shown  that  nasal 
breathing  is  normal,  while  mouth  breathing,  except  hi 
passional  or  extremely  excited  expression,  is  abnormal. 

How  then  can  this  normal  condition  be  developed 
when  once  lost?  In  the  first  place,  there  must  be  right 
co-ordination  and  relaxation  of  the  tone  passage,  of  the 
back  of  the  tongue  since  relaxation  begins  there,  and 
of  the  whole  pharynx.  Any  normal  use  of  the  voice, 
or  true  co-ordination,  will  then  cause  breathing  to  be 
primarily  through  the  nose. 


112  MIND   AND   VOICE 

Narial  breathing,  however,  is  rather  an  organic  than 
an  artistic  condition.  It  belongs  to  life  rather  than  to 
voice  breathing,  and  should  be  developed  by  exercises 
for  the  development  of  vitality. 

How  can  this  be  done?  One  good  exercise  is  running. 
Those  who  run  with  the  mouth  open  have  little  endur- 
ance, but  when  the  mouth  is  kept  shut  against  the  great 
temptation  to  pant  or  breathe  through  it  the  exercise  will 
be  found  beneficial  in  establishing  normal  conditions  of 
breathing. 

Another  good  exercise  is  boxing,  or  any  kind  of 
vital  gymnastics,  excited  actions  or  games.  In  all 
these  the  student  should  keep  his  mouth  closed. 
When  a  teacher  of  expression  finds  a  pupil  who 
shows  habitual  mouth  breathing,  night  and  day,  he 
must  first  of  all  examine  the  condition  of  his  tonsils 
and  soft  palate.  It  may  be  that  a  surgical  operation  is 
needed. 

When  there  is  an  obstruction  at  this  part  the  breathing 
will  necessarily  be  through  the  mouth.  One  leading 
physician  in  this  country  says,  "  Nose  breathing  will 
naturally  follow  when  there  is  no  obstruction  hi  the 
pharynx  or  the  tonsils  or  from  catarrh." 

There  is  much  truth  in  this,  but  doubtless  other  causes 
exist.  Mouth  breathing  may  express  weakness,  irre- 
solution, or  a  lack  of  self-control  and  self-centred 
confidence. 

When  a  teacher  meets  with  such  a  case,  after  examin- 
ing and  discovering  that  there  is  no  obstruction  at  the 
tonsils  and  no  case  of  catarrh  that  keeps  the  passage 
closed,  but  that  the  mouth  breathing  is  merely  a  habit, 
the  student  should  be  recommended  to  practice  running 
up  hill,  or  other  vigorous  physical  exercises,  and  try  to 
develop  greater  confidence  and  alertness.  In  all  such 
instances  there  should  be  special  care  fcrbreathe  through 
the  nose. 


RESPIRATORY    CO-ORDINATIONS  113 

Another  helpful  exercise  will  be  to  practice  with  relaxa- 
tion and  co-ordination  the  letter  "  m  "  with-  Exercise  32. 
out  allowing  the  lips  to  part,  taking  breath  fSfpSsag?6 
and  giving  "m"   with  a  great  reserve   of  in  BreatMng' 
breath  in  the  middle  of  the  body  and  decided  relaxation 
of  the  tongue.    This  exercise,  which  will  be  explained 
later,  is  helpful  in  enabling  the  student  to  realize  the 
sympathetic  ease  and  pleasure  of  a  deep  draught  of  air 
through  the  nose. 

All  the  preceding  breathing  exercises  should  be  prac- 
ticed with  the  mouth  closed  and  the  pharynx  and  narial 
chambers  open  and  free;  especially  with  the  taking  of 
deep,  long  breaths,  holding  them  and  giving  them  out 
slowly,  not  only  for  development  of  the  retentive  action 
of  the  lungs  but  also  to  strengthen  the  habit  of  breathing 
through  the  nostrils. 

IV.   AUDIBLE   BREATHING. 

A  word  should  be  said  also  regarding  the  habit  formed 
by  many  speakers  —  and  even  by  singers  and  actors  — 
of  audible  inspiration  of  air. 

In  general,  whenever  there  is  any  noise  in  the  taking 
of  breath  there  is  some  constriction,  usually  at  the  sum- 
mit of  the  pharynx  or  the  pillars  of  the  soft  palate,  and 
even  along  the  whole  tone  passage.  That  one  can  take 
in  perfect  silence  a  deep  and  profound  breath  can  easily 
be  demonstrated  by  the  student.  If  he  place  himself 
in  a  good  position  and  inhale  a  deep,  full  breath  suddenly, 
he  will  find  that  if  he  does  not  resist  it,  but  gives  his 
energy  entirely  to  the  act  there  will  be  perfect  silence. 

In  the  practice  of  breathing  exercises  many  students 
unconsciously  resist  the  breath  taken  in,  and  think 
that  because  of  the  amount  of  noise  they  are  making  a 
great  effort  in  taking  breath.  This  is  true,  but  the  labor 
is  directed  to  hindering  the  free  inflow  of  air.  They 
take  breath  through  constricted  parts.  They  produce 


114  MIND  AND   VOICE 

opposition  to  the  reception  of  breath  by  their  own  will, 
constricting  the  throat. 

It  is  of  real  importance  that  the  entire  tone  passage 
should  be  relaxed  during  the  taking  of  breath.  Not 
only  do  the  lungs  become  active  in  preparation  for 
speaking,  but  the  throat  becomes  passive.  This  allows 
silent  and  free  passage  of  breath  into  the  lungs  through 
its  own  channels  and  any  noise  indicates  constriction  or 
absence  of  obedience  to  the  fundamental  principle  of 
co-ordination.  A  labored  inspiration  caused  by  taking 
breath  through  a  constricted  or  narrowed  aperture  is 
always  injurious. 

It  will  be  observed  later  that  in  the  co-ordination  be- 
tween breathing  and  the  pharynx  silence  results.  This 
is  due  to  the  fact  that  the  whole  soft  palate  and  nose 
have  become  relaxed. 

It  is  a  good  exercise  to  practice  simple  inspiration, 
feeling  the  relaxation  of  the  jaw,  tongue,  and  all  parts, 
but  keeping  the  lips  closed,  making  sure  that  the  respi- 
ration is  absolutely  silent. 

V.   BREATHING  TOO   SELDOM. 

One  of  the  most  common  faults  in  the  use  of  the 
breath,  especially  among  those  who  read  their  discourses 
as  contrasted  with  those  who  speak  extemporaneously, 
or  as  those  who  think  abstractly,  is  breathing  only 
when  compelled  to  do  so  from  exhaustion. 

The  remedy  for  this  is  a  mental  one.  There  must 
be  development  of  attention  and  concentration.  The 
speaker  must  individualize  his  ideas;  receive  more 
vivid  impressions.  We  have  already  found  that  with 
every  reception  of  an  impression  by  the  mind  there  is 
a  co-ordinate  effect  upon  breathing,  shown  by  inhalation 
of  air. 

An  abstract  thinker,  as  has  been  shown,  breathes 
seldom,  while  one  who  thinks  with  vivid,  concrete  ideas 


RESPIRATORY   CO-ORDINATIONS  115 

breathes  more  frequently.  This  individualizing  of  the 
impression  not  only  improves  breathing  but  causes 
better  variation  of  pitch,  better  rhythm,  and  in  every 
way  improves  voice  modulations  and  conditions. 

The  student  should  individualize  intensely  his  succes- 
sive impressions,  taking  time  to  breathe  easily  and  freely 
and  to  accentuate  the  changes  hi  his  expression  so  as 
to  prevent  his  becoming  tedious. 

One  remedy  for  breathing  too  seldom  is  the  avoid- 
ance of  hurry,  or  what  is  known  as  the  Exercise33 
fault  of  forcing  one's  rate.  The  student 
should  take  some  reposeful,  dignified  selec- 
tion, vividly  conceive  each  idea,  take  time  for  contem- 
plation and  realization  of  his  impression,  and  justify 
long  pauses  by  wide  variation  of  pitch  and  inflexion. 
In  this  way  he  can  establish  more  vital  co-ordination 
between  the  rhythm  of  his  thinking  and  breathing 
already  referred  to,  and  also  develop  a  certain  repose 
and  restfulness.  Man  thinks  quickly,  and  if  he  forces 
himself  to  hurry  his  thinking  will  outrun  his  imagination 
and  feeling,  and  especially  his  breathing.  There  is  a 
certain  unity  of  the  rhythm  of  all  parts  of  his  nature 
which  must  be  established. 

"I  go  to  prove  my  soul! 
I  see  my  way  as  birds  their  trackless  way, 
I  shall  arrive!  what  time,  what  circuit  first, 
I  ask  not;  but  unless  God  send  His  hail, 
Or  blinding  fire-balls,  sleet,  or  stifling  snow, 
In  some  time,  His  good  time,  I  shall  arrive: 
He  guides  me  and  the  bird.    In  His  good  time !  "  « 
From  "  Paracelsus  "  Robert  Browning. 

VI.   COLLAR-BONE   BREATHING. 

This  is  a  frequent  fault  with  emotional  preachers  or 
nervous  speakers.  Some  men  who  ordinarily  never 
have  collar-bone  breathing  at  once  develop  it  when  they 
stand  up  to  speak.  What  is  the  cause  of  this?  It  is  due 


Il6  MIND   AND   VOICE 

to  timidity,  to  an  hysterical  attitude  of  mind  or  to  self- 
consciousness. 

In  examining  a  class  of  thirty  or  forty  ministers  I  have 
frequently  required  all  of  them  to  speak  some  simple 
selection  or  merely  to  count.  On  going  behind  them  I 
could  locate  those  who  had  suffered  from  sore  throat  hi 
speaking.  I  simply  observed  whether  they  moved  their 
shoulders  or  not.  Those  who  did  so  displaced  the  breath- 
ing, and  while  this  habit  hi  a  strong  man  might  not  socn 
cause  a  sore  throat,  a  consequent  congestion  of  the 
pharnyx  is  sure  to  follow.  Rarely  have  I  made  a 
mistake. 

Lennox  Brown,  the  eminent  physician  and  specialist 
in  throat  diseases,  told  me  that  he  had  examined  five 
thousand  cases  and  each  one  who  suffered  from  the  so- 
called  "  minister's  sore  throat  "  had  this  fault  of  breath- 
ing. My  own  observation  corresponds  with  his  opinion. 
Medicines  may  temporarily  relieve  but  there  can  be  no 
permanent  help  unless  the  speaker  corrects  the  fault 
of  breathing  which  is  the  cause  of  the  congestion  of  his 
pharynx. 

There  are,  however,  many  other  abnormal  physical 
conditions  which  may  result  from  this  method  of  breath- 
ing. Those  who  do  not  breathe  hi  the  center  of  the 
body  are  extremely  nervous  after  speaking.  Sometimes 
it  may  take  five  or  six  years  to  develop  such  normal 
conditions,  as  will  be  noticeable  to  other  people  or  even 
to  the  man  himself.  Naturally,  those  who  manipulate 
the  breath  from  the  chest  have  less  in  the  lungs  and 
do  not  breathe  so  frequently.  It  is  only  in  some  mo- 
ment of  great  strain  that  we  breathe  by  moving  the 
shoulders.  Even  then  such  labored  breathing  is  indic- 
ative of  weakness. 

In  lifting  a  weight  or  in  performing  some  physical 
feat  in  proportion  to  his  strength,  a  strong  man  will 
breathe  in  the  middle  of  his  body,  but  a  weak  man,  who 


RESPIRATORY   CO-ORDINATIONS  117 

must  unduly  strain  to  perform  the  feat,  will  show  action 
at  the  shoulders. 

Similarly  in  the  use  of  the  voice.  A  normal  and  easy 
tone  should  be  associated  with  breathing  in  the  middle 
of  the  body.  Any  abnormal  screaming,  hysterical  agita- 
tion and  shouting,  any  action  in  short  which  brings  in 
this  labored  method  of  breathing,  causes  constriction 
at  the  throat  and  completely  upsets  the  primary  co- 
ordination between  breathing  and  the  tone  passage. 

In  the  correction  of  this,  various  expedients  have  to  be 
adopted,  such  as  sitting  with  the  arms  down  Exercise  34. 
at  the  side  holding  firmly  the  rungs  of  a  Sg^i?*' 
chair,  or  lying  on  the  back,  breathing  or  speak-  BreatMng. 
ing  easily.    Slow,  calm,  and  reposeful  concentration  also, 
or  the  acting  of  some  character,  such  as  Don  Pedro  or 
other  prince,  in  dignity  and  repose,  is  emphasized.    Pas- 
sages of  great  intensity,  but  with  calm  dignity  and  con- 
trol, such  as  Henry  Fifth,  or  Richmond  in  Richard  III, 
may  be  practiced  with  great  advantage. 

BATTLE  CRY. 

More  than  half  beaten,  but  fearless, 

Facing  the  storm  and  the  night; 
Breathless  and  reeling,  but  tearless, 

Here  in  the  lull  of  the  fight, 
I  who  bow  not  but  before  Thee, 

God  of  the  fighting  Clan, 
Lifting  my  fists  I  implore  Thee, 

Give  me  the  heart  of  a  Man! 

What  though  I  live  with  the  winners, 

Or  perish  with  those  who  fall? 
Only  the  cowards  are  sinners, 

Fighting  the  fight  is  all. 
Strong  is  my  Foe  —  he  advances ! 

Snapt  is  my  blade,  O  Lord ! 
See  the  proud  banners  and  lances! 

Oh  spare  me  this  stub  of  a  sword ! 
From  "  Man  Song ' '  John  G.  Heidhardt 


Il8  MIND   AND   VOICE 

VII.    LABORED   BREATHING. 

Faulty  modes  of  using  the  breath  are  almost  innumer- 
able. There  are  many  other  labored  methods,  aside 
from  collar-bone  breathing  and  lack  of  centrality.  Some 
instructors  even  teach  that  one  should  breathe  by  the 
lifting  of  the  ribs  at  the  side. 

This  view  entirely  overlooks  the  fact  that  the  abdom- 
inal muscles  are  all  expiratory,  and  that,  as  I  have  tried 
to  show,  it  is  the  inspiratory  muscles  that  need  most 
development. 

Of  course  the  abdomen  moves  outward  in  taking  a 
deep,  strong  breath,  on  account  of  the  activity  of  the 
diaphragm,  but  to  force  the  centre  of  breathing  too  low 
is  to  introduce  constrictions  into  the  diaphragm  and 
into  all  the  muscles  of  respiration.  I  have  found  that 
such  faults?  due  often  to  bad  teaching,  cause  conges- 
tion of  the  pharynx  and  great  irritation  of  the  nervous 
system.  They  are  mostly  associated  with  breathing  at 
the  summit  of  the  chest. 

In  a  leading  city  of  this  country  I  once  went  to  hear  a 
minister  who  was  making  a  great  reputation.  He  did 
not  seem  to  have  the  movement  of  the  shoulders  com- 
mon to  most  preachers  who  misuse  the  voice,  but  instead 
a  peculiar  constriction  across  the  chest.  I  could  see  that 
every  word  was  rasping  his  nervous  system,  and  that 
his  collapse  would  be  only  a  question  of  time. 

That  afternoon  I  met  one  of  my  intimate  friends,  a 
university  professor,  and  asked  him  frankly  if  he  thought 
it  would  do  for  me  to  write  a  letter  to  this  clergyman 
and  warn  him;  but  my  friend  shook  his  head  and  said 
he  was  a  little  "  peculiar."  He  himself  was  a  teacher 
of  ministers  and  knew  how  sensitive  such  a  man  was  to 
any  criticism,  or  suggestion  on  voice  or  delivery.  I  said, 
"  Mark  my  word,  it  will  not  be  long  before  he  will  be 
compelled  to  take  a  rest."  Within  a  year  I  saw  in  the 


RESPIRATORY   CO-ORDINATIONS  IIQ 

paper  that  Doctor  So-and-So  was  suffering  with  nervous 
prostration  and  had  been  "  relieved  for  a  year  to  make 
a  trip  to  Europe."  This  was  obviously  due  to  the  speak- 
er's misuse  of  his  voice.  During  the  period  of  rest  he 
might  receive  relief,  and  nature  might  return  to  a  normal 
condition,  but  this  could  only  be  temporary.  Such  a 
man,  from  lack  of  a  little  vocal  training,  shortens  his  life 
by  at  least  ten  years. 

The  fault  in  this  particular  case  was  not  regular  collar- 
bone breathing,  but  a  peculiar  cramping  of  the  chest, 
and  a  forcing  out  of  the  breath  to  make  loud  tones  from 
exhausted  lungs. 

This  example  illustrates  the  difficulty  of  classifying 
faults  of  breathing.  Every  individual  case  will  present 
a  new  variety.  Some  may  class  this  with  collar-bone 
breathing  because  the  preacher  manipulated  his  breath 
from  the  summit  of  the  chest. 


IX.    THE  TONE  PASSAGE 

^  Voice  is  simply  breath  in  vibration.  Accordingly,  the 
vibrations  or  "  sound  waves  "  mus't  be  allowed  freedom 
of  exit.  The  emission  of  such  a  succession  of  vibrations 
or  waves  demands  a  free  avenue.  The  peculiar  nature  of 
this  passage  and  the  complex  manner  of  opening  it  call 
for  earnest  study. 

The  word  "  mouth  "  is  used  indefinitely.  Sometimes 
we  mean  merely  the  parting  of  the  lips ;  sometimes,  the 
chamber  in  which  the  tongue  rests  and  performs  its 
different  functions.  In  this  sense  we  must  recognize 
two  openings  of  the  mouth :  the  external  or  anterior,  and 
the  posterior  one,  which  opens  into  the  pharynx.  As  the 
forward  part  of  the  mouth  is  drawn  open  it  is  co-ordinated 
with  the  closing  of  the  back  part,  while  the  dropping  of 
the  latter  is  dependent  upon  co-ordination  with  breath- 
ing. From  the  physiological  point  of  view  these  are  wise 


120  MIND    AND    VOICE 

provisions  of  nature  because  when  food  is  in  the  mouth 
the  back  opening  into  the  pharynx  must  be  closed. 
Often  in  such  a  case  when  a  person  begins  suddenly  to 
speak  there  is  an  attack  of  coughing,  because  the  open- 
ing at  the  back  has  allowed  a  particle  of  food  to  pass 
downward  into  the  larynx. 

The  parts  of  this  tone  passage  especially  needing  at- 
tention are  the  lips,  the  jaw,  the  tongue,  the  soft  palate 
and  the  pharynx. 

I.  THE   LIPS. 

A  normal  action  of  the  lips  in  speech  is  important  be- 
cause when  there  is  any  constriction  of  these  there  is  a 
corresponding  constriction  in  the  tongue  or  the  pharynx. 

The  function  of  the  lips  is  to  remain  hi  repose  resting 
against  the  teeth,  at  any  rate  never  compressed  against  or 
extended  from  them.  When  the  lips  are  protruded  the  tip 
of  the  tongue  is  always  drawn  back  from  the  lower  teeth. 

A  drawing  down  of  the  corners  of  the  mouth  often 
causes  a  corresponding  droop  of  the  outer  part  of  the 
nostrils,  and  is  frequently  associated  with  a  kind  of 
whining  nasality.  It  is  worth  while  to  manipulate  the 
corners  of  the  mouth,  especially  the  muscles  below  it 
when  they  become  too  short,  and  the  muscles  above 
when  they  are  too  long.  The  best  exercise,  however, 
for  the  elevation  of  the  corners  of  the  mouth  is  cheer- 
fulness and  joy  in  life,  but  especially  in  the  practice  of 
all  vocal  exercises.  There  should  be  a  joyous  expres- 
sion over  the  whole  face. 

Lamperti  required  his  students  to  practice  all  their 
exercises  with  a  smile,  never  showing  the  under  teeth 
but  rather  the  upper  ones. 

II.  THE   JAW. 

The  lower  jaw  is  simply  a  box  containing  the  tongue. 
If  the  jaw  is  constricted,  held  in  any  way  rigid  or  kept 
closed,  the  surrender  of  the  tongue  and  the  right  open- 


RESPIRATORY    CO-ORDINATIONS  121 

ing  of  the  mouth  and  pharynx  become  impossible.  In 
little  children  the  jaw  can  be  easily  relaxed  and  the  open- 
ing of  the  mouth  seems  free  and  natural.  Reso- 
lute endeavor  and  antagonism  to  opposition  cause  many 
persons  to  acquire  a  perpetually  constricted  lower  jaw. 
A  large  and  firm  jaw  generally  expresses  decision  and 
firmness  of  character,  but  this  need  not  degenerate  into 
permanent  rigidity. 

What  is  needed  is  the  power  not  only  to  close  the  lower 
jaw  firmly  but  to  surrender  it  instantly.  The  alterna- 
tion between  activity  and  passivity  is  a  sign  of  power. 
Stiffness  is  never  a  true  indication  of  strength. 

Keeping  the  teeth  together  habitually  is  one  phase  of 
stiffness,  and  arises  from  a  want  of  control  or  a  lack  of 
responsiveness  of  the  organism  to  the  actions  of  the  mind. 

The  principles  of  training  should  be  applied  to  the 
development  of  the  jaw,  the  flexibility  and  free  perform- 
ance of  its  elemental  action. 

So  far  as  the  use  of  the  voice  is  concerned  the  many 
actions  of  the  jaw  is  to  get  out  of  the  way  and  allow  the 
organs  of  speech,  and  especially  the  tongue,  freedom  of 
action. 

The  first  exercise  should  consist  of  a  simple  passive 
surrender  of  the  whole  under  jaw.  The  student  should 
feel  the  weight  of  the  tongue  and  jaw. 

Another  exercise  should  be  the  use  of  syllables  such 
as  "  fa "  or  "  va."  The  bringing  of  the  under  lip 
against  the  upper  teeth  causes  a  lifting  of  the  jaw,  while 
the  opening  into  a  large  vowel  chamber  brings  surrender. 
There  is  thus  instituted  an  alternate  lifting  and  relax- 
ation of  the  jaw. 

When  desired,  the  exercise  may  be  practiced  rhythmi- 
cally as  an  iambic  or  trochaic  foot.  The  repetition  should 
be  slow  at  first  to  make  sure  of  the  complete  surrender 
of  the  jaw  and  the  vowel  chambers,  becoming  increas- 
ingly rapid  to  develop  facility  in  relaxing  the  parts. 


122  MIND   AND   VOICE 

Another  exercise  is  to  take  the  first  four  letters  of  the 
Greek  alphabet  and,  making  the  vowels  large,  practice 
them  rapidly  one  after  the  other. 

IIL   THE   TONGUE. 

So  important  is  the  function  of  the  tongue  in  speech 
that  its  Latin  name  has  given  the  basis  of  the  word 
"  language."  Its  education  is  the  most  important  point 
hi  developing  the  openness  of  the  tone  passage. 

In  general,  we  can  look  into  a  mouth  and  tell  by  the 
passivity  or  position  of  the  tongue  whether  the  voice  is 
trained  or  not. 

In  training  the  tongue  the  first  thing  to  be  noted  is 
Exercise  as  w^etner  tne  whole  organ  lies  in  its  normal 
— i  ked.  When  properly  relaxed  the  tip  rests 
passively  against  the  lower  teeth.  This  is 
the  surest  test  of  its  relaxation.  It  may  be  forced 
actively  against  the  lower  teeth  which  causes  constric- 
tion at  the  back  of  it ;  but  there  must  be  no  pressure. 

Another  test  of  this  passive  surrender  is  obtained  by 
looking  hi  a  small  mirror;  there  should  be  a  large  space 
above  the  tongue  and  under  the  soft  palate  at  the  back 
of  the  pharynx.  This  space,  however,  varies  with  differ- 
ent persons. 

There  are  more  automatic  actions  and  tendencies  to 
constrict  the  tongue  than  can  be  found  in  any  other  part 
of  the  body.  In  more  senses  than  one  "  it  is  an  unruly 
member."  Nearly  all,  If  not  all,  faults  of  the  tone  pas- 
sage are  associated  with  some  constriction  of  the 
tongue. 

Throatiness  or  a  muscular  or  gutteral  quality  of  voice 
is  due  in  probably  every  case  to  constriction  of  the  back 
of  the  tongue  and  the  pharynx  with  which  it  is  always 
intimately  related. 

In  nasality  the  constriction  of  the  back  of  the  tongue 
is  opposite  the  soft  palate,  while  in  throatiness  the  con- 


RESPIRATORY   CO-ORDINATIONS  123 

striction   generally   forces  the   tongue    backward   and 
opposite  the  pharynx. 

In  freeing  the  tongue  there  should  always  be  passivity 
in  the  region  between  the  chin  and  the  larynx.  If  we 
place  a  finger  across  this  part  halfway  from  the  larynx 
to  the  chin  we  find  it  active  in  swallowing,  and  we  detect 
similar  rigidity  in  throatiness  and  occasionally  in  nasal- 
ity. It  is  a  good  exercise  to  make  simple  tones  such  as 
"  ah,"  and  observe  carefully  the  relaxation  of  this  region 
while  so  doing. 

The  development  of  the  passivity  of  tongue,  jaw,  and 
the  various  parts  of  the  mouth  is  important.  Exerclse36 
One  helpful  exercise  is  to  keep  the  mouth  Repose  of 

Tongue — II. 

closed,  slowly  and  steadily  inhale  breath 
through  the  nostrils,  and  at  the  same  time,  feel  the  back 
of  the  tongue  relax,  and  later  the  weight  of  the  whole 
tongue  and  the  lower  jaw  with  a  separation  of  the  teeth. 
Keeping  the  lips  together  repeat  this  many  times,  being 
sure  that  the  back  of  the  tongue  first  surrenders,  then 
the  whole  tongue,  then  the  jaw,  and  that  all  this  time 
the  breath  is  being  inhaled. 

These  are  also  good  exercises  for  developing  right 
breathing  through  the  nose,  since  true  narial  breathing 
depends  upon  the  relaxation  of  the  back  of  the  tongue 
and  the  soft  palate  more  than  upon  anything  else. 

In  all  exercises  for  the  tongue  be  careful  that  the  chin 
or  jaw  is  not  drawn  down  or  any  direct  action  permitted 
anywhere  along  the  tone  passage.  When  the  tongue 
is  in  its  place,  it  is  not  pushed  against  the  lower  teeth 
but  lies  flat  in  its  bed.  Be  sure  also  that  the  lips  do  not 
protrude  from  the  teeth.  A  common  fault  is  the  separa- 
tion or  protrusion  of  the  lips  from  the  teeth  when  the 
mouth  begins  to  open,  "  cod-fishing  the  lips,"  as  it  was 
humorously  called  by  Dr.  Guilmette. 

It  may  be  necessary  to  look  into  a  mirror  to  observe 
whether  the  tongue  has  any  jerky  movement,  or  lies 


124  MIND   AND    VOICE 

completely  passive;  or  whether  there  is  a  protrusion  of 
the  lips,  a  drawing  down  or  a  gentle  elevation  at  the 
corners,  as  in  a  smile.  Every  portion  of  the  mouth, 
tongue  and  pharynx  should  be  observed  with  reference 
to  this  sympathetic  relaxation;  the  breath,  hi  the  mean- 
time, being  easily  and  sympathetically  retained  in  the 
middle  of  the  body  where  all  voluntary  vocal  action 
must  be  directed  or  indicated  physically,  and  where 
all  such  activity  must  naturally  and  harmoniously 
centre. 

Slowly  and  easily  inhale,  simultaneously  relaxing  the 

Exercise  37  tone  Passa&e>  beginning  at  the  back  of  the 
tongue,  then  relaxing  the  jaw,  and  finally 
the  lips;  immediately  give  "  ah  "  as  gently 
as  possible,  either  with  a  rising  inflexion  or  as  a  "  start 
in  song."  Repeat  this  twenty  tunes,  relaxing  and  rest- 
ing after  each  tone  to  prepare  for  the  next  one. 

IV.   THE   SOFT   PALATE. 

Constriction  is  frequently  found  in  the  soft  palate. 
One  kind  of  constriction  may  be  between  it  and  the 
back  of  the  tongue,  which  causes  one  species  of  nasality. 
Another  at  the  side,  or  rather  in  the  pillars  of  the  soft 
palate,  renders  the  voice  flat  and  hard.  These  two  con- 
strictions are  often  united. 

Development  of  passivity  is  best  secured  through 
the  general  co-ordination  and  especially  in  the  educa- 
tion of  the  tongue.  Under  nasality  certain  exercises 
will  be  given  for  this  particular  region.  The  humming 
of  a  soft  "  m,"  keeping  the  vibrations  carefully  in  the 
mouth,  relaxing  the  whole  tongue  and  soft  palate  will 
frequently  help  to  remove  constrictions.  A  gentle  word, 
such  as  "  home,"  may  be  employed  in  a  way  that  will 
soothe  and  relax  all  the  parts  of  the  pharynx. 

The  constrictions  of  the  pillars  of  the  soft  palate  are 
chiefly  of  the  styloglossus  muscle.  The  relaxation  of 


RESPIRATORY    CO-ORDINATIONS  125 

this  muscle  is  secured  through  the  relaxation  of  the  back 
of  the  tongue.  The  preceding  exercise  also  helps.  The 
student  can  open  his  mouth,  relax  his  tongue,  and  by 
means  of  a  mirror  observe  the  condition  of  the  soft 
palate  itself  as  well  as  its  pillars.  There  should  be  a 
large  free  space  at  the  back  of  the  pharynx,  and  every- 
one must  try  to  attain  this  by  easily  taking  breath  and 
simultaneously  relaxing  the  back  of  the  tongue  and  all 
its  related  parts. 

The  soft  palate  is  always  intimately  connected  with 
the  back  of  the  tongue,  and  control  of  the  latter  brings 
co-ordinate  control  of  the  former.  In  the  utterance  of 
"  m,"  "  n,"  and  "  ng,"  the  only  nasal  elements  in  the 
English  language,  they  act  in  union,  the  soft  palate  being 
down  upon  the  back  of  the  tongue.  But  in  the  utterance 
of  these  elements  we  can  discover  whether  the  soft 
palate  is  relaxed  by  the  degree  of  openness  and  freedom 
of  the  narial  vibrations.  In  all  so-called  nasality  or 
abnormal  nasal  vibrations  there  is  constriction  at  the 
back  of  the  tongue  as  well  as  in  the  soft  palate.  Though 
no  one  seems  to  have  noticed  it,  this  nasality  is  more 
pronounced  in  the  nasal  elements  than  even  in  other 
letters  supposed  to  involve  no  nasal  vibration.  We  must 
distinguish  between  normal  or  narial  vibrations  of  the 
chambers  of  the  nose  and  abnormal  vibration  or  the  so- 
called  nasal  due  to  constriction.  Every  emission  of  the 
normal,  nasal  letters  requires  great  relaxation  of  the 
back  of  the  tongue  and  the  elevation  without  constric- 
tion of  the  whole  soft  palate.  Practice  for  freedom  at 
this  point  requires  patience  and  perseverance  and  is  well 
worthy  of  attention. 

When  the  soft  palate  is  sluggish,  or  seems  to  fail  to 
discharge  its  own  elemental  actions,  and  to  Exerclse38 
lose  its  activity  by  becoming  confused  with 
the  actions  of  the  tongue  I  have  found  the 
following  exercise  of  great  value.    Utter  "  ah,"  or  any 


126  MIND   AND   VOICE 

vowel  which  a  pupil  gives  most  freely  and  without 
nasality,  as  easily  and  openly  as  possible,  immediately 
folio  whig  it  by  "  ng."  In  the  "  ng  "  of  course  the  back 
of  the  tongue  and  soft  palate  come  together.  In  the 
vowel  they  are  far  apart.  Then  alternating  the  sudden 
emission  of  the  vowel  with  the  soft  palate  and  back  of 
the  tongue  'as  far  apart  as  possible,  with  "  ng  "  where 
they  are  close  together,  we  secure  a  kind  of  spring  about 
of  the  soft  palate  and  back  of  the  tongue. 

For  the  elimination  of  nasality  I  have  found  this  a 
helpful  exercise,  which  I  have  named  "  agility  of  the 
soft  palate."  I  had  a  peculiar  case  once  of  a  soft  palate 
that  was  too  short.  I  hit  upon  this  exercise  to  enable 
the  man  to  stretch  his  soft  palate,  and  to  develop  the 
weak  and  undeveloped  muscles  controlling  it.  It  was 
simply  an  application  of  the  principle  of  elemental  actions, 
or  vocalization  of  functions  and  shows  the  advantage  of 
knowing  nature's  processes  of  growth  and  development. 

The  soft  palate  plays  a  more  important  role  in  the 
production  of  vowels  than  we  are  likely  to  realize. 
When  sympathetically  but  elastically  elevated,  it  forms 
a  means  of  uniting  with  the  pharyngeal  and  mouth 
vibrations  hi  the  vowel,  the  rich  accessory  narial  vibra- 
tions, or  those  from  the  upper  portion  of  the  pharynx 
and  nose.  These,  when  normal,  constitute  one  of  the 
richest  and  most  beautiful  elements  in  tone.  When 
abnormal  or  perverted  they  become  the  most  disagree- 
able qualities  of  the  voice. 

V.   THE   PHARYNX. 

The  various  parts  of  the  tone  passage  act  almost  as 
one.  Hence,  in  training,  after  having  secured  the  sur- 
render and  elementary  actions  of  each  part,  the  student 
should  at  once  pass  to  the  education  of  the  pharynx, 
which  must  be  developed  in  union  with  the  whole  tone 
passage. 


RESPIRATORY   CO-ORDINATIONS  127 

In  cases  of  serious  constrictions  and  faults,  such  as 
throatiness,  nasality,  and  flatness,  or  general  narrow- 
ness of  the  tone  passage,  there  must  be  more  care  in 
the  education  of  specific  parts  to  secure  normal  action 
and  especially  the  ability  for  normal  passivity  of  all  the 
parts. 

Where  the  tone  passage  is  moderately  normal  and 
the  parts  act  sympathetically,  the  whole  may  be  taken 
together. 

It  is  difficult  to  reach  the  pharynx  directly,  but  indirectly 
we  can  easily  secure  a  proper  passive  condition  of  its 
parts.  The  lips,  jaw,  and  especially  the  tongue,  have 
a  mysterious  connection  with  the  pharynx  and  any  con- 
strictions of  these  cause  corresponding  constriction  at 
the  pharynx,  the  real  gateway  of  the  voice. 

From  the  pharynx  two  passages  open  downward,  one 
through  the  larynx  into  the  lungs,  which  is  always  open 
except  during  the  act  of  swallowing,  and  the  other,  the 
passage  through  the  esophagus  into  the  stomach. 

At  the  summit  of  the  pharynx  is  the  soft  palate,  which, 
when  normal  is  down  against  the  tongue  —  its  position 
in  sleep  and  in  ordinary  life  —  and  the  pharynx  extends 
up  into  the  posterior  nares.  When  the  soft  palate  rises, 
the  pharynx  and  the  mouth  form  a  continuous  tube, 
the  chief  tone  passage,  though  the  nose  with  soft 
palate  down  is  the  tone  passage  in  nasal  letters. 

Place  the  thumb  across  the  throat,  halfway  from  the 
chin  to  the  larynx,  upon  the  muscles  of  that  Exercise  39. 
region;   when  the  pharynx  and  the  back  of 
the  tongue  are  free  from  constriction  these 
muscles  are  soft  and  relaxed.    If  there  is  a  tightening 
here,  then  the  back  of  the  tongue  and  the  pharynx  are 
constricted. 

The  various  parts  of  the  tone  passage  act  almost  as 
one.  It  is  not  necessary,  except  at  the  beginning,  or  in 
the  case  of  serious  faults,  to  separate  the  training  of  the 


128  MIND   AND   VOICE 

lips,  the  jaw,  the  back  of  the  tongue,  and  the  soft  palate 
from  one  another.  When  the  parts  of  the  tone  passage 
are  normal  and  only  need  to  have  the  openness  increased, 
the  method  of  developing  the  normal  action  of  these 
parts  can  be  included  in  the  education  of  the  pharynx. 

The  pharynx  is  difficult  to  bound  or  locate.  Three 
passages  from  the  outer  air,  two  nostrils  and  the  mouth, 
open  into  it,  the  soft  palate  being  the  gateway  that 
closes  or  opens  the  passage  through  the  mouth  or  the 
nose.  The  soft  palate  has  power  to  open  or  close  either 
the  two  nasal  passages  or  the  mouth  passage,  but  can- 
not close  both  at  the  same  time,  neither  should  it  open 
both  together,  as  this  induces  nasality,  snoring,  and  other 
forms  of  audible  breathing.  The  pharynx  below  has  a 
passage  from  the  esophagus  into  the  stomach  and  also 
one  through  the  larynx  and  trachea  into  the  lungs. 

The  lung  passage  is  at  the  front  of  the  esophagus, 
through  a  non-collapsible  tube  composed  of  cartilag- 
inous rings.  At  the  back  of  the  tongue  is  the  epiglottis. 
This  lid,  however,  does  not  close  down  upon  the  voice 
box,  but  the  box  is  drawn  upward  under  it.  When  we 
swallow  food  or  liquid  it  is  passed  down  the  esophagus 
into  the  stomach.  Except  for  the  momentary  interruption 
of  swallowing,  the  passage  into  the  lungs  is  continually 
free  and  open,  as  is  also  the  passage  through  the  nose. 
The  pharynx,  accordingly,  is  always  open,  and  its  con- 
strictor muscles,  of  which  there  are  three  sets,  the 
upper,  the  middle,  and  the  lower,  are  relaxed  except  in 
swallowing. 

The  act  of  swallowing,  from  whatever  point  of  view 
it  may  be  observed,  is  one  of  mystery.  It  is  a  physi- 
ological and  partly  voluntary  action  which  is  extremely 
interesting  and  only  escapes  our  wonder  because  of  its 
frequency.  We  think,  for  example,  that  we  can  swallow 
whenever  we  wish,  but  if  we  hold  the  back  of  the  tongue 
away  from  the  fauces  the  act  of  swallowing  is  impossible. 


RESPIRATORY  CO-ORDINATIONS 

Just  as  we  go  to  swallow  there  is  an  action  of  the  back 
of  the  tongue.  It  "  touches  the  button  "  and  nature  does 
the  rest. 

Now,  these  swallowing  muscles  are  frequently  active 
when  people  try  to  make  tone;  some  try  to  pull  the 
mouth  down  actively  instead  of  relaxing  the  back  of 
the  tongue  and  other  parts,  thus  opening  the  mouth 
passively.  The  use  of  muscles  which  are  important  for 
mastication  and  swallowing  frequently  obstructs  or  con- 
stricts the  tone  passage. 

We  can  observe  this  part  of  the  action  of  swallowing 
by  placing  the  thumb  across  the  throat  just  above  the 
larynx  or  Adam's  apple.  The  moment  we  swallow,  we 
feel  the  muscles  under  the  chin  tighten,  while  the  larynx 
is  drawn  sharply  upward. 

In  the  act  of  swallowing,  the  constrictors  of  the  pharynx 
contract,  the  upper  series  first,  afterward  the  middle 
and  lower  ones,  and  then  these  witt  the  aid  of  the  tongue 
and  the  soft  palate  force  the  food  into  the  esophagus. 

The  tightening  felt  above  the  larynx  in  swallowing  is 
a  part  of  the  effect  of  the  contraction  of  these  muscles. 
Whenever  such  a  thing  happens  there  is  also  constric- 
tion of  the  pharynx. 

In  contrast  to  this,  compare  the  flexible  and  limp  con- 
dition of  the  muscles  above  the  larynx  in  making  a  free, 
open  tone.  Relaxation  of  the  constrictors  of  the  pharynx 
and  the  whole  throat  is  absolutely  necessary  to  all  free- 
dom or  resonance  of  tone. 


X.    FREEDOM  OF  THE  TONE  PASSAGE 

The  specific  parts  which  may  obstruct  the  emission  of 
the  voice  have  been  studied.  The  first  step  in  securing 
freedom  of  tone,  as  here  indicated,  is  to  come  to  some 
understanding  of  the  function  or  normal  action  of  each 
individual  part.  It  is  now  necessary  to  study  more 


130  MIND   AND   VOICE 

specifically  how  to  educate  these  parts  for  the  removal 
of  constrictions  and  abnormal  conditions  or  to  establish 
their  proper  action  hi  voice  production. 

I.  ACTIONS  OF  THE  PARTS  OF  THE  TONE  PASSAGE. 

These  parts,  especially  the  pharynx  and  mouth,  are 
used  for  two  purposes,  each  distinct  from  the  other. 
When  the  mouth  opens  to  receive  food  the  front  of  the 
cavity  opens,  while  the  back  of  the  tongue  rises  and  in 
conjunction  with  the  soft  palate  closes  the  passage  into 
the  thorax.  In  closely  studying  the  actions  of  these 
parts  in  life  breathing  and  in  tone  we  discover  an  impor^ 
tant  difference  hi  functioning.  That  is,  the  mouth  is 
actively  opened,  the  lower  jaw  pulled  down,  and  the 
back  of  the  tongue  raised  against  the  soft  palate  which 
allows  an  opening  through  the  pharynx  and  nose.  This 
closing  has  to  be  developed  by  a  process  of  education. 
An  infant  does  not  close  the  passage,  as  is  shown  by  the 
fact  that  when  a  teaspoonful  of  water  is  given  some  of 
it  now  and  then  goes  into  the  larynx  and  the  child  coughs. 
But  trouble  results  even  from  this  education,  since  the 
manner  of  opening  the  mouth  for  food  becomes  so  hab- 
itual after  a  while  that  nearly  everyone  endeavors  to  do 
this  in  the  same  way  for  tone  production.  The  result  is 
constriction  at  the  back  of  the  tongue  and  the  pharynx. 

For  the  second  office  of  the  mouth  —  tone  production— 
it  is  necessary  to  develop  the  passive  surrender  of  the 
tongue  and  jaw  and  to  open  the  tone  passage  as  is  done 
by  the  child  for  the  teaspoonful  of  water.  To  develop  a 
natural  opening  of  the  mouth  in  speech,  let  us  direct 
attention  once  more  to  the  effect  of  a  sudden  impression 
of  surprise.  In  an  exclamation,  the  lower  jaw  is  not 
forcibly  .drawn  down;  it  drops  of  its  own  weight;  and 
even  before  this  the  back  of  the  tongue  relaxes.  It  is  at 
the  pharynx,  or  back  of  the  tongue,  that  the  opening  of 
the  passage  for  tone  production  begins,  because,  as  we 


RESPIRATORY   CO-ORDINATIONS  131 

have  seen,  the  rear  of  the  mouth,  rather  than  the  front, 
forms  the  gateway  for  tone.  In  opening  the  mouth  to 
take  food,  the  beginning  is  at  the  lips. 

These  two  modes  of  opening  the  mouth  demand 
special  attention.  One  is  active,  the  other  passive.  In 
the  first,  the  jaw  is  pulled  down  and  the  back  of  the  tongue 
rises;  hi  the  second,  the  back  of  the  tongue  and  the 
pharynx  relax  in  co-ordination  with  the  taking  of  breath. 

This  passive  opening  of  the  mouth  results  from  the 
reception  of  an  impression  and  is  a  factor  in  the  prepara- 
tory action  for  speech.  It  is  associated  with  the  taking  of 
breath'  and  constitutes  one  of  the  important  preparatory 
responses  establishing  correct  conditions  for  tone. 

II.    SENSE   OF   SURRENDER. 

In  studying  the  action  of  the  tone  passage  we  note 
something  peculiar.  We  find  no  muscle  to  draw  the 
tongue  down,  and  if  the  jaw  be  pulled  down  actively  the 
tone  passage  will  be  constricted  at  an  important  part 
and  will  not  be  opened. 

The  education  of  the  tone  passage  brings  us  to  one 
of  the  important  but  often  entirely  overlooked  facts 
regarding    the    training    of    the    human    organism,  - 
surrender. 

If  we  stretch  out  the  hand  and  make  it  active  and  then 
withdraw  the  will  from  it,  we  can  feel  its  weight.  When 
the  will  is  in  the  hand,  there  is  no  sense  of  weight; 
but  when  withdrawn  from  it  to  the  wrist  we  feel  the 
weight. 

The  tone  passage  is  not  opened  by  direct  voluntary 
action.  It  must  be  relaxed.  It  opens  because  of  the 
surrender  of  the  back  of  the  tongue  and  the  jaw.  All 
parts  of  the  mouth,  including  the  constrictors  of  the 
pharynx,  all  the  muscles  used  in  swallowing,  are  simply 
relaxed.  This  includes  the  pillars  of  the  soft  palate, 
but  not  necessarily  the  delicate  muscle  that  holds  this 


132  MIND  AND  VOICE 

up.  The  soft  palate  may  be  up  or  down  and  the  passage 
open.  Accordingly,  the  student  should  carefully  develop 
the  sense  of  sympathetic  surrender  at  the  back  of  the 
tongue,  and  of  all  the  parts  of  the  tone  passage.  This 
sense  has  so  many  examples  in  the  different  steps  to  be 
taken  that  it  requires  some  specific  attention  here.  For 
instance,  in  breathing,  the  release  of  the  actively  retained 
breath  after  a  tone  is  extremely  important.  I  have 
found  many  voices  faulty  from  the  simple  reason  that 
the  breath  was  not  surrendered  at  the  close  of  a  phrase. 

It  is  astonishing  how  many  defects  in  the  use  of  the 
voice  are  caused  by  a  lack  of  the  simple  giving  up  of  the 
different  agents  at  the  end  of  their  action.  Even  in 
articulation  this  surrender  is  absolutely  necessary.  It  is 
an  essential  part  of  their  right  production.  Many  agents 
must  be  trained  to  react  instantly  after  action. 

Note  the  action  of  the  diaphragm  at  the  close  of  utter- 
ing an  isolated  word  like  "  halt."  Say  "  No!  "  so  vig- 
orously as  to  be  heard  one  hundred  yards  away  and 
observe  what  is  done  in  order  to  project  the  tone  to  a 
distance. 

We  increase  preparatory  actions  and  conditions,  but 
immediately  after  this  speech  we  notice  a  recovery  or 
recoil  from  these.  The  tone  passage  at  once  returns 
to  its  habitual  condition  and  the  surplus  breath  taken 
to  support  and  produce  the  tone  is  instantly  released. 

In  teaching  I  have  found  many  cases  of  staying  the 
activity,  especially  in  the  diaphragm  after  speaking  a 
phrase,  and  I  well  remember  the  one  which  caused  me 
to  note  this,  —  it  was  that  of  a  gentleman  studying  for 
the  stage.  He  was  enthusiastic  and  much  in  earnest  but 
his  throat  was  in  an  extreme  state  of  irritation,  and  I 
observed  him  for  several  lessons  to  discover  the  real 
cause.  At  last  I  found  that  he  did  not  release  after  giv- 
ing an  exclamation  or  phrase  but  endeavored  contin- 
uously to  hold  his  breath,  thus  causing  his  breathing  for 


RESPIRATORY   CO-ORDINATIONS  133 

voice  to  interfere  with  his  life  breathing.  This  release 
is  of  fundamental  importance  in  the  co-ordination  of 
voice  with  life  breathing. 

Returning  again  to  the  illustration  of  this  principle 
in  regard  to  the  tone  passage  observe  that  the  education 
of  the  jaw  requires  surrender; 1  when  it  is  held  rigidly 
or  constrictedly  active,  neither  the  tongue  nor  the  pharynx 
can  be  free. 

On  account  of  concurrent  actions,  or  intimate  relations 
of  the  parts,  when  there  is  no  extremely  abnormal  action 
in  some  part,  the  second  step  is  to  take  the  whole  tone 
passage  together. 

These  steps,  important  as  they  are,  are  only  prepara- 
tory, according  to  the  principles  advocated  in  this  book. 
The  whole  tone  passage  does  not  perform  its  functions 
actively  or  directly.  It  properly  opens  for  the  produc- 
tion of  tone  only  by  co-ordination  with  the  right  activity 
in  retaining  the  breath.  The  will  must  centre  activity, 
not  in  the  throat  but  in  the  diaphragm.  Simultaneously, 
but  indirectly  and  by  sympathetic  co-ordination,  the 
passageway  for  the  emission  of  tone  becomes  open. 

Why  is  it  impossible  for  conditions  of  the  tone  passage 
to  be  established  by  direct  action  of  the  will  ? 

In  the  first  place  because  there  are  certain  involuntary 
and  even  unconscious  actions  concerned  in  the  estab- 
lishment of  conditions  of  voice.  We  cannot  open  the 
throat  by  will.  Yet  the  back  of  the  tongue  relaxes,  and 
the  whole  throat  and  jaw  open  in  right  sympathetic 
response  to  the  breathing  when  this  responds  to  thinking. 

Accordingly,  the  real  work  of  developing  openness 
comes  after  the  preliminary  studies  and  the  removal  of 
constrictions  from  individual  parts  by  provisional  exer- 
cises. The  adequate  education  of  the  tone  passage  must 
be  secured  by  the  patient  practice  of  exercises  which  co- 
ordinate all  its  parts  sympathetically  with  breathing. 
1  For  a  fuller  explanation  of  surrender  see  author's  book  on  training. 


134  MIND   AND   VOICE 

III.   CO-ORDINATION    OF    PREPARATORY    ACTIONS    AND 
CONDITIONS. 

Observe,  again,  some  natural  exclamation,  command, 
Exercise  40.  or  utterance  of  some  specific,  definite  word, 
«vSSS£l&y  such  as  "  No."  We  find  that  the  conditions 
Actions.— i.  for  voice  production  are  established  immedi- 
ately before  speech.  We  not  only  take  breath  and  open 
the  throat  in  speaking  but  these  conditions  occur  to- 
gether and  immediately  precede  speech. 

Accordingly,  the  best  exercise  for  the  education  of  the 
tone  passage  is  one  associated  with  the  taking  of  breath 
immediately  before  speech. 

Let  us  first  regard  individual  sounds  or  words  and 
the  normal  preparation  for  these  in  natural  utterance. 
Then  we  must  increase  the  fundamental  elements  of 
these  precedent  actions  simultaneously  and  in  proper 
union. 

We  have  already  found  that  these  actions  or  their 
activity  in  the  middle  of  the  body  and  passivity  at  the 
throat  are  natural  and  simultaneous.  The  point  now 
is  to  accentuate  them  immediately  before  producing 
tone. 

Such  an  exercise  as  practicing  a  word  like  "  No," 
may  appear  so  simple  as  to  be  ridiculous.  Yet  it  is 
not  only  important,  but  even  difficult  to  master.  It 
requires  unusual  care  and  patience  to  restore  per- 
verted constrictions  of  lips,  tongue,  soft  palate,  and 
pharynx,  to  their  normal,  sympathetic  relationship  to 
breathing.  Even  in  this  we  may  still  find  that  the  action 
is  too  labored  and  does  not  bring  co-ordination.  In  such 
a  case,  the  breathing  itself  is  constricted  or  in  some  way 
abnormal.  The  two  actions  test  each  other,  because 
when  perfectly  natural  they  are  simultaneous  and 
correct  action  can  be  observed  only  by  the  co-ordinate 
union  of  both. 


RESPIRATORY    CO-ORDINATIONS  135 

Can  you  express  the  tenderness  of  the  following  beau- 
tiful poem  in  the  first  word,  allowing  imagina-  Exercise*!. 
tion  and  feeling  to  establish  all  the  co-ordinate  aMPharyn- 
conditions,  relaxing  the  tone  passage,  sym-  nations— i. 
pathetically  retaining   the   breath   and   expanding  the 
whole  body?    After  getting  a  satisfactory  grasp  of  the 
conditions  in  this  word  the  whole  lyric  should  be  read 
simply  and  naturally. 

ROSE  AYLMER. 

Ah,  what  avails  the  sceptred  race, 

Ah,  what  the  form  divine! 
What  every  virtue,  every  grace! 

Rose  Aylmer,  all  were  thine. 
Rose  Aylmer,  whom  these  wakeful  eyes 

May  weep,  but  never  see, 
A  night  of  memories  and  of  sighs 

I  consecrate  to  thee. 

Walter  Savage  Landor. 


The  student  may  practice  this  many  times  while  the 
teacher  observes  his  actions.  It  is  often  well  for  the 
pupil  to  think  the  words,  grasp  the  situation,  and  go 
through  the  preparatory  actions,  stopping  on  the  instant 
of  speaking. 

It  may  be  wise  to  go  still  further  back  and  prepare 
for  this  by  taking  breath  with  the  mouth 


closed  while  feeling  the  passivity  of  the  back  sequence  of' 

Co-ordination. 

of  the  tongue.  The  whole  tongue  then  be- 
comes flat  and  presses  forward  of  its  own  weight  toward 
the  lower  teeth.  The  jaw  surrenders  almost  simultane- 
ously; then  the  conditions  may  be  released  and  this 
repeated  many  tunes  until  the  initial  feeling  of  the  co- 
ordination is  realized.  After  this  the  exercise  may  be 
brought  to  the  immediate  verge  of  speech,  the  easy  and 
natural  opening  of  the  lips,  not  of  their  own  volition  but 
because  of  the  surrender  of  the  jaw;  and  this  may  be 
repeated  many  times. 


136  MIND   AND   VOICE 

It  is  always  best  in  such  cases  to  keep  in  mind  the 
thought  of  the  exclamation,  and  even  the  situation  in 
imagination  and  feeling. 

An  exercise  of  this  kind  is  the  best  that  I  have  ever 
been  able  to  invent  for  the  correction  of  mouth  breathing. 
In  fact,  to  my  knowledge  it  is  the  only  one  which  has 
exercised  permanent  corrective  influence. 

The  reason  is  that  breathing  through  the  mouth  is 
associated  with  constriction  at  the  soft  palate,  back  of 
the  tongue  and  summit  of  the  pharynx.  This  exercise 
develops  relaxation  at  the  instant  of  taking  breath  in 
preparation  for  speech.  If  the  opening  of  the  mouth 
began  at  the  lips  such  an  exercise  might  establish  mouth 
breathing,  but  if  practiced  properly  and  the  opening  of 
the  tone  passage  carefully  initiated  in  the  pharynx  and 
back  of  the  tongue,  it  is  the  best  correction  for  this  fault. 

I  find  that  most  people  neglect  patient  practice  at 
this  point.  They  think  it  foolish  to  take  a  little 
breath  into  the  lungs  and  feel  a  simultaneous  pas- 
sivity in  the  pharynx.  Persevering  practice  of  some 
fundamental  detail  will  cause  the  exercise  to  be  done 
correctly  and  greatly  facilitate  progress.  Every  true 
exercise  has  certain  precedent  and  preparatory  actions 
which  must  be  secured  before  it  can  be  properly  practiced. 

As  soon  as  the  whole  tongue  and  jaw  relax  sympatheti- 
cally with  the  first  impulse  to  take  breath,  then  the  lips 
should  also  be  allowed  to  relax  and  the  tone  immediately 
follow.  There  must  be  no  stopping  between  prepa- 
ration and  speech.  The  conditions  established  by 
the  preparatory  actions  are  continuous  though  they 
immediately  precede  and  really  set  up  the  conditions 
of  speech;  and  they  must  be  followed  by  utterance.  A 
word  or  phrase  really  begins  with  the  breath  taken: 
this  is  the  key  to  the  almost  innumerable  and  mys- 
terious co-ordinations  that  produce  the  phenomena  of 
a  spoken  word. 


RESPIRATORY   CO-ORDINATIONS  137 

This  continuity  demands  careful  attention.  If  one 
raises  a  hammer  but  suddenly  stays  the  stroke  he  must 
lift  it  a  second  tune  before  he  strikes.  In  the  same  way, 
no  one  can  prepare  for  tone  and  arrest  the  preparatory 
action.  It  must  be  instantly  followed  by  speech.  The 
activity  hi  taking  breath  recoils  into  speech,  just  as  a 
ball  thrown  to  the  floor  rebounds  to  the  hand.  Speech 
is  produced,  so  to  speak,  by  the  rebound  of  the  breath. 
This  activity  not  only  establishes  passivity  of  the  whole 
tone  passage  but  initiates  many  other  of  the  funda- 
mental co-ordinations. 

Uniting  preparatory  actions  and  release  of  voice 
conditions,  we  have  a  complete  circle  of  Exercise  43. 

.  .     '  .  ,  .,          Respiratory 

actions  in  uttering  a  word  or  phrase  and  an  and  Pharyn- 

geal  Co-ordl- 

exercise  accentuating  and  naturally  using  nation— n. 
them  all,  and  can  practice  some  word  such  as  "  No  " 
or  "  Yes,"  a  dramatic  exclamation,  or  a  word  or  phrase 
from  some  poem  full  of  admiration  of  nature  or  ten- 
der feeling.  Observe  that  all  the  conditions  enumer- 
ated are  established,  and  yet  note  that  they  are  all 
sympathetically,  naturally,  and  harmoniously  united. 
After  making  the  tone  they  must  normally  and  naturally 
recoil  into  repose  or  their  normal  vital  functioning. 

THE  WIND. 

O  wind,  that  is  so  strong  and  cold, 

0  blower,  are  you  young  or  old  ? 
Are  you  a  beast  of  field  and  tree, 
Or  just  a  stronger  child  than  me  ? 

O  wind,  a-blowing  all  day  long, 
O  wind,  that  sings  so  loud  a  song! 

1  saw  the  different  things  you  did, 
But  always  you  yourself  you  hid. 
I  felt  you  push,  I  heard  you  call, 
I  could  not  see  yourself  at  all  — 

O  wind,  a-blowing  all  day  long, 
O  wind,  that  sings  so  loud  a  song ! 

Robert  Louis  Stevenson. 


138  MIND   AND   VOICE 

I  am  aware  that  some  will  object  to  this  exercise  be- 
cause it  seems  so  analytic,  but  when  the  parts  have  been 
habitually  used  in  a  wrong  way  for  years  analysis  and 
care  are  necessary,  and  perseverance  and  patience  are 
required  at  the  start.  When  the  little  parts  are  properly 
restored  and  these  insignificant  steps  receive  attention, 
it  is  astonishing  how  rapid  will  be  the  progress.  The 
reason  for  this  is  that  such  co-ordination  is  natural  and 
the  exercise  simply  restores  normal  conditions.  How- 
ever habit  may  have  perverted  natural  actions,  when  the 
right  appeal  is  made  from  habit  to  nature  in  training, 
response  can  be  expected. 

Where  the  exercise  is  given  in  class,  individuals  should 
be  made  to  practice  it  before  their  fellow-pupils  —  some- 
times one  who  does  it  well  and  sometimes  one  who  fails 
-that  they  may  learn  from  one  another.  The  whole 
power  of  efficient  vocal  training  depends  upon  the 
patient  practice  which  is  equally  necessary  whether  for 
song  or  speech.  It  is  universally  needed  because  even 
those  who  have  a  normal  use  of  the  tone  passage  and  of 
breathing  will  be  sure  to  lack  vigor  in  this  co-ordi- 
nation. Others  will  lack  passivity.  In  such  co-ordina- 
tion will  be  slow;  and  with  others  it  will  be  only  occa- 
sional; but  the  great  majority  will  doubtless  show 
that  they  have  lost  it  from  perverted  habits  of  careless 
speaking. 

These  co-ordinations  must  occur  not  only  with  individ- 
ual words  but  with  every  successive  phrase.  With  a 
pleasing  speaker,  these  preparations  take  place  with 
every  complete  idea.  He  breathes  frequently  and  at 
every  pause  there  is  a  renewal  of  these  preparatory 
conditions. 

A  poor  speaker,  on  the  contrary,  begins  to  speak  with- 
out any  of  these  precedent  actions.  In  practically  every 
fault  of  voice  this  co-ordination  is  lacking.  It  is  a  basic 
condition  which  is  one  of  the  first  to  be  lost  in  the  estab- 


RESPIRATORY    CO-ORDINATIONS  139 

lishment  of  bad  habits.    Accordingly,  it  is  necessary  to 
study  the  succession  of  preparation  and  release. 

Let  us  take  a  simple  sequence  of  words  such  as  count- 
ing, and  give  each  one  with  definite  prepara-  Exercise  44. 
tion,  accentuating  all  the  conditions,  evengggjgfe 
from  one  to  fifty  and  from  one  to  a  hundred.  Actions— n- 
Each  word  must  be  taken  as  an  individual  impression. 
Ample  time  should  be  allowed.    Before  each  word  there 
must  be  the  reception  of  plenty  of  breath,  and  the  open- 
ing of  the  tone  passage,  immediately  following  this  by 
speech,  then  by  the  release ;  after  this  there  is  a  renewal 
of  conditions  for  the  next  word,  and  so  on. 

In  relation  to  the  tone  passage,  when  the  exercise, 
previously  assigned,  has  been  mastered,  the  student 
may  evince  a  tendency  to  fix  his  jaw  and  to  fail  hi  the 
release  of  his  whole  tone  passage  after  the  first  word  or 
two.  In  such  cases  the  practice  must  go  back  to  its 
beginning  and  be  again  initiated  with  vigorous  and 
careful  accentuation  of  preparatory  conditions.  It  may 
be  well  also  to  return  to  the  practice  of  individual 
words  or  exclamations. 

This  unites  all  previous  steps  in  the  education  of 
breathing  and  of  the  tone  passage.  All  the  elements 
must  be  present  in  easy  and  natural  sequence,  strongly 
accentuated  because,  like  every  exercise,  it  demands  a 
vigorous  increase  of  fundamental  conditions  to  accomp- 
lish any  true  results.  It  may  also  be  used,  as  previously 
shown,  to  test  the  centrality  and  normal  action  of  respira- 
tion. It  will  increase  power  to  breathe  frequently,  cause 
facility  in  the  actions  of  the  diaphragm  and  remove  con- 
strictions from  the  respiratory  muscles.  It  will  also 
develop  rhythm  and  harmonize  voice  and  life  breathing. 
At  the  same  time,  it  adds  something  in  developing  facility 
in  the  freedom  and  openness  of  the  tone  passage,  in  the 
direct  natural  response  to  the  retention  of  the  breath. 

It  enables  the  teacher  to  watch  during  the  rhythmic 


140  MIND   AND    VOICE 

sequence  of  the  actions  every  small  fault  or  little  perver- 
sion which  is  the  germ  of  the  fault,  every  weak  part  of 
action  that  needs  strengthening.  But  above  and  be- 
neath all,  one  must  feel  the  normal  play  of  successive, 
natural  actions  establishing  and  restoring  true  voice 
conditions  and  bringing  them  into  harmonious  and 
rhythmic  unity. 

Each  successive  word  in  the  exercise  can  be  given 
Exercise  45.  first  with  a  long,  decided  falling  inflexion, 
ofpre^ar^SrV  then  with  a  vigorous  rising  one.  Then  words 
Actions— in.  should  be  given  in  groups  of  two,  —  a  short 
rise  on  the  first,  and  a  decided  fall  on  the  second;  a 
long  emphatic  fall  on  the  first,  and  a  slight,  subordinate 
one  on  the  second.  They  may  also  be  given  in  larger 
groups  of  three,  with  a  long  falling  inflection  on  two,  a 
slight  rise  on  one,  and  a  short,  subordinate  fall  on  three; 
or  the  falling  inflexion  may  be  changed  to  one  or  to 
three,  with  corresponding  modulations  on  the  subordinate 
parts.  Still  larger  groups  of  five,  even  ten,  can  gradu- 
ally be  introduced,  as  progressive  steps,  but  the  words 
should  be  given  hi  natural  phrases  or  vocal  forms  as 
if  standing  for  thoughts. 

Such  practice  will  tend  to  correct  faults  of  melody. 
Thus  the  student  can  be  working,  it  may  be  uncon- 
sciously, for  the  correction  of  faults  of  voice  while  exer- 
cising breathing  and  the  tone  passage.  He  can  also  be 
training  the  ear  and  developing  agility  and  other  quali- 
ties to  be  explained  later.  In  my  own  work  as  a  teacher 
I  have  found  it  helpful  thus  to  anticipate  a  principle  be- 
fore explaining  it.  This  appeals  to  instinct  and  awakens 
a  person's  natural  tendency  to  observe. 

Sometimes,  for  variety,  students  may  receive  practice 
in  declensions  of  nouns  or  conjugations  of  verbs  hi  Latin 
or  Greek,  or  other  languages.  The  words  in  counting 
are,  in  fact,  rather  poor;  a  language  with  more  open 
vowels,  such  as  Greek,  would  be  more  helpful. 


RESPIRATORY    CO-ORDINATIONS  141 

The  words,  however,  are  of  little  value;  the  point  is 
to  secure  co-ordination,  which  may  be  done  with  any 
series  of  words. 

IV.   APPLICATION   TO   SPEECH. 

After  a  person  has  mastered  the  right  surrender  of 
the  tone  passage,  he  will  need  directions  to  apply  this 
to  a  sequence  of  words.  Even  after  such  an  application 
as  the  preceding,  it  may  be  necessary  to  apply  it  still 
more  definitely  to  exclamations,  phrases,  and  sentences ; 
that  is,  to  co-ordinate  these  preparatory  actions  with 
thinking.  A  failure  to  co-ordinate  thinking  is  the  reason 
why,  after  seeming  mastery,  the  student  neglects  the 
exercise  in  his  everyday  speech. 

Take,  for  example,  the  lyric  from  Shakespeare  (p.  25) ; 
picture  the  beauty  of  the  morning  and  the  Exercise  46. 

Respiratory 

windows  of  Imogen's  room  in  the  castle  asandPharyngeai 

Co-ordinations 

seen  from  the  park.  Realize,  also,  the  love-  —m. 
liness  of  Imogen,  who  is  supposed  to  be  asleep  in  that 
room.  Put  admiration  for  all  into  the  first  word,  "  Hark !" 
repeating  it  twenty  or  thirty  times,  emphasizing  not  only 
imagination  and  feeling  but  the  vocal  conditions  respond- 
ing to  this  mental  action. 

Or  still  better,  take  the  last  word  of  the  poem,  which 
is  three  times  repeated  by  Shakespeare.  We  can  give 
"  Arise !  "  its  triple  repetition,  and  repeating  this  many 
times  while  holding  the  spirit  of  the  whole  poem  in  mind, 
we  shall  find  a  correction  of  the  tendency  to  perform 
co-ordination  exercises  mechanically.  We  shall  also 
recognize  the  many  natural  elements  in  the  exercise, 
or  feel  that  co-ordination  is  not  mechanical  or  conven- 
tional but  a  natural  response  in  the  vocal  mechanism 
to  the  thought  and  emotion  of  the  mind. 

Or  take  "  peace  "  or  "  love  "  from  the  following  and 
render  it  in  the  same  way,  or  some  other  word  or 
phrase  from  some  tender  poem. 


142  MIND   AND   VOICE 

Peace  beginning  to  be, 

Deep  as  the  sleep  of  the  sea, 
When  the  stars  their  faces  glass 

In  its  blue  tranquility: 

Hearts  of  Men  upon  Earth, 

Never  once  still  from  their  Birth 
To  rest,  as  the  wild  waters  rest, 
With  the  colours  of  Heaven  on  their  breasts ! 

Love,  which  is  sunlight  of  peace, 
Age  by  age  to  increase, 
Till  Angers  and  Hatreds  are  dead, 
And  Sorrow  and  Death  shall  cease : 
"  Peace  on  Earth  and  Goodwill!  " 
Souls  that  are  gentle  and  still 
Hear  the  first  music  of  this 
Far-off,  infinite  bliss! 
From  "  The  Light  of  the  World  "  Sir  Edward  Arnold. 

In  the  right  performance  of  the  exercise  we  can  easily 
feel  any  increase  of  the  sympathetic  retention  of  breath, 
greater  expansion  of  the  body,  freedom  from  all  muscular 
constrictions  not  only  in  the  throat  but  through  the 
whole  organism,  and  can  observe  immediate  improve- 
ment in  the  qualities  of  the  voice.  The  tone  will  be 
purer,  stronger,  and  especially  richer  in  sympathetic 
vibrations. 

Even  after  mastering  the  preparatory  action  hi  pas- 
sional words  like  the  preceding,  there  will  still  be  a 
tendency  to  lose  it  in  common  conversation  or  ordinary 
reading.  There  must  be  further  co-ordination  of  this 
with  thinking.  Every  successive  impression  should 
cause  an  effect  on  breathing  and  the  tone  passage. 

When  we  study  the  relation  of  thought  to  words,  we 
find  that  nearly  every  impression  consists  in  a  number 
of  words  or  a  phrase  sometimes  called  the  "  oratorio 
word."  All  good  speakers  show  a  beautiful,  rhythmic 
phrasing  —  in  subordination  and  in  direct  response  to  the 
rhythm  of  thinking  —  and  with  this  a  pleasing  use  of  the 
voice  is  shown  by  the  effect  of  the  successive  impressions, 


RESPIRATORY    CO-ORDINATIONS  143 

not  only  on  words  but  on  the  breathing  and  the  tone 
passage. 

As  soon  as  there  has  been  a  mastery  of  individual 
words  and  artificial  groups  as  hi  counting  or  its  applica- 
tion in  passional  phrases,  the  student  should  take  some 
passage  with  vivid,  individual  ideas,  carefully  phrase 
it,  making  long  pauses,  with  the  reception  of  each  im- 
pression. During  these  he  should  accentuate  the  pre- 
paratory actions  and  conditions,  and  then  express  the 
following  phrase  with  great  variety  of  inflexion  and 
change  of  pitch.  Each  successive  phrase  should  be 
varied  from  the  last  hi  a  natural,  progressive  way.  We 
can  thus  tell  whether  the  exercise  has  become  a  habit, 
that  is  to  say,  whether  the  actions  have  been  so  de- 
veloped and  restored  as  to  respond  directly  to  the 
thinking  of  the  man.  Only  hi  this  case  is  an  exercise 
truly  mastered. 

Accordingly,  take  a  simple  passage  with  vivid  individ- 
ual ideas.     Pause  longer  than  usual  and 
then  justify  this  action  by  touch,  inflexion, 
and    change    of    pitch    upon    the    folio  whig  tions— rv. 
phrase,  but  during  the  pause  accentuate  the  preparatory 
conditions.     Let  the  reading  be  easy  and  natural,  but 
vigorous. 

ATHENS  AND  SPARTA. 
Athens  reclined,  but  Sparta  sat 

To  take  the  cup. 
Deliberating,  Athens  sat; 

Sparta  stood  up. 
In  speaking,  Athens  made  a  show 

Of  word  and  wit. 
Spartan  debate  was  Yes  and  No: 

That  settled  it. 
Athens,  when  all  was  vainly  fought, 

Fled  from  the  field. 
Sparta  brought  home  or  else  was  brought 

Upon  a  shield. 
The  Attic  pen  was  wielded  well; 

The  world  has  read. 


144  MIND  AND  VOICE 

What  Lacedaemon  had  to  tell, 

His  right  arm  said. 
Something  the  Spartan  missed,  but  gained 

The  power  reserved 
That  lets  the  crown  pass  unobtained, 

Not  undeserved. 

Wendell  Phillips  Stafford. 

Thy  voice  is  heard  through  rolling  drums 

That  beat  to  battle  where  he  stands; 
Thy  face  across  his  fancy  comes, 

And  gives  the  battle  to  his  hands: 
A  moment,  while  the  trumpets  blow, 
He  sees  his  brood  about  thy  knee ; 
The  next,  like  fire  he  meets  the  foe, 

And  strikes  him  dead  for  thine  and  thee. 
Song  from  "  The  Princess  "  Alfred  Tennyson. 


Passages  such  as  the  preceding  may  be  given,  first, 
simply  and  naturally,  as  is  in  ordinary  reading,  and  then 
with  greater  earnestness  or  accentuation  of  the  succes- 
sive individual  ideas.  This  accentuation  will  cause  an 
increase  in  the  number  and  length  of  the  pauses,  and 
especially  hi  the  primary  vocal  conditions.  There  will 
be  more  breath,  greater  openness  of  the  tone,  greater 
rhythmic  pulsation  in  the  voice. 

This  is  excellent  for  developing  the  sense  of  natural 
rhythm  in  speech,  the  right  alternation  between  the 
reception  of  the  impression  and  its  expression,  between 
thinking  and  utterance,  silence  and  speech,  and  espe- 
cially between  the  establishment  of  conditions  and  the 
utterance  of  speech.  Only  rhythm  will  bring  all  the 
many  peculiar  elements  of  preparation  and  speech  and 
release  of  conditions  into  right  unity,  and  the  determin- 
ing factor  is  not  mere  will  or  rule  but  thinking. 

Passages  containing  excited  exclamations  or  repre- 
Exercfce48.  sentative  words,  such  as  the  following  from 
oVco^ortinate  Dickens,  may  be  rendered.  The  joyous  and 
conditions.  he8irty  giving  of  the  «  Yo  ho!"  should  be 


RESPIRATORY   CO-ORDINATIONS  145 

emphasized,  the  co-ordinations  carefully  observed,  and 
then  care  should  be  taken  to  have  some  accentuation 
of  the  preparatory  actions  for  the  following  phrase. 

CHRISTMAS  AT  FEZZIWIG'S  WAREHOUSE. 

"Yo  ho!  my  boys,"  said  Fezziwig.  "No  more  work  to-night; 
Christmas  Eve,  Dick !  Christmas,  Ebenezer !  Let  's  have  the  shut- 
ters up,"  cried  old  Fezziwig  with  a  sharp  clap  of  his  hands,  "  before 
a  man  can  say  Jack  Robinson.  .  .  ." 

"Hilli-hol"  cried  old  Fezziwig,  skipping  down  from  the  high 
desk  with  wonderful  agility.  "  Clear  away,  my  lads,  and  let 's  have 
lots  of  room  here!  Hilli-ho,  Dick!  Cheer  up,  Ebenezer!  " 

Clear  away!  There  was  nothing  they  wouldn't  have  cleared 
away,  or  could  n't  have  cleared  away,  with  old  Fezziwig  looking  on. 
It  was  done  in  a  minute.  Every  movable  was  packed  off,  as  if  it 
were  dismissed  from  public  life  f orevermore ;  the  floor  was  swept 
and  watered,  the  lamps  were  trimmed,  fuel  was  heaped  upon  the 

fire ;  and  the  warehouse  was  snug  and  warm. 

Charles  Dickens. 

XI.    PHARYNGEAL  FAULTS   OF  VOICE 

Like  all  others,  the  methods  of  vocal  training  pre- 
sented in  this  book  will  be  tested  by  their  efficiency  in 
eliminating  faults  of  voice. 

The  importance  of  this  principle  of  co-ordination  of 
all  the  parts  of  the  tone  passage  hi  union  with  breathing 
is  especially  shown  and  illustrated  by  the  fact  that  its 
mastery  eliminates  the  common  faults  of  voice. 

Sound  is  simply  vibration,  and,  since  it  is  initiated 
without  great  labor,  the  least  constriction  or  misuse  of 
a  part  at  once  perverts  the  vibration.  All  faults  of  voice 
are  associated  with  some  constriction  in  the  tone  pas- 
sage, or  wrong  use  of  some  part  of  the  vocal  mechanism. 

While  every  individual  voice  is  peculiar  to  itself  and 
no  amount  of  training  can  make  two  alike,  still  the  fact 
must  be  realized  that  there  are  certain  conditions  or 
qualities  hi  nearly  every  voice  which  are  perversions  of 
nature.  A  hard,  flat  tone  is  unnatural.  Faults  are 


146  MIND   AND   VOICE 

traceable  to  bad  habits,  and  their  eradication  will  not 
remove  the  personal  peculiarities  of  a  voice  but  will 
develop  its  individual  character. 

The  student  must  make  a  careful  study  of  the  nature 
of  sound  and  of  the  peculiar  qualities  of  his  own  voice, 
that  he  may  not  mistake  abnormal,  constricted  tones 
for  his  real  voice.  Failure  to  realize  that  a  nasal  or 
throaty  tone  is  no  essential  part  of  the  person's  own 
voice  will  prevent  correction  of  the  fault,  if  not  forbidding 
any  true  vocal  development. 

One  little  splinter  or  bad  joint  hi  the  structure  of  a 
piano  will  affect  the  tone  of  the  instrument.  When  an 
old  building  is  torn  down,  a  violin  maker  is  often  on 
hand  to  find  timbers  which  have  been  dry  for  a  hun- 
dred years.  The  texture  of  the  wood  is  vitally  neces- 
sary to  produce  richness  of  tone.  If  a  mere  instrument 
be  as  delicate  as  these  illustrations  indicate,  what  must 
we  expect  to  find  in  the  voice,  which  results  from  the 
vibration  not  of  a  mechanical  agent  but  of  a  living 
organism? 

The  human  voice  is  the  most  perfect  of  all  instru- 
ments, and  naturally  the  most  sensitive;  hence,  the 
smallest  muscle,  the  least  displacement  of  any  part, 
such  as  the  back  of  the  tongue  or  soft  palate,  will  cause 
a  decided  perversion  of  the  tone. 

What  is  the  best  method  of  dealing  with  faults  of 
voice?  One  consists  in  securing  control  of  the  local 
part  whence  the  defect  arises.  This  seems  scientific 
since,  as  already  shown,  most  faults  are  directly  as- 
sociated with  constriction  of  some  specific  part.  It  must 
be  granted  that  it  is  of  great  aid  in  training  if  the  teacher 
be  able  to  put  his  finger  upon  the  constriction  that  oc- 
casions a  false  vibration. 

Why,  then,  is  this  method  inadequate? 

Because  faults  of  voice  are  the  result  of  habit.  A 
mere  conscious  control  for  a  moment  of  the  part  con- 


RESPIRATORY    CO-ORDINATIONS  147 

stricted,  granting  that  this  is  possible,  is  forgotten  in  the 
hurry  of  speech  and  the  fault  recurs. 

With  every  normal  or  abnormal  action  of  a  muscle, 
especially  of  those  at  the  base  of  the  tongue  and  the 
pharynx  or  soft  palate,  many  others  are  co-ordinated 
mysteriously  in  the  nerve  centres,  and  a  fault  cannot 
be  adequately  corrected  until  there  is  developed  right 
co-ordination  of  all  the  parts. 

To  secure  normal  action  of  any  part  requires  the  as- 
certaining of  the  fundamental  conditions  upon  which 
the  more  accidental  ones  depend  and  their  establishment. 
For  this  reason,  the  correction  of  the  simplest  fault 
of  voice  demands  a  positive  and  radical  method.  No 
part  of  the  tone  passage  is  controlled  specifically  and  in- 
dividually in  ordinary  speech.  The  slightest  act  is 
intimately  connected  with  all  the  parts.  All  these,  in 
producing  a  tone,  act  sympathetically  and  almost  as  a 
unit. 

What  is  needed  is  the  mastery  of  the  fundamental 
principle  here  indicated.  As  all  pharyngeal  faults  are 
due  to  constriction  of  the  tone  passage,  and  since  the 
first  principle  and  exercise  call  for  sympathetic  reten- 
tion of  the  breath  and  a  relaxation  of  the  whole  throat, 
when  these  first  exercises  are  completely  mastered  such 
a  fault  of  voice  is  eliminated. 

It  will  be  seen  from  this  that  a  defect  cannot  be  com- 
pletely eradicated  negatively  or  by  mere  local  treatment. 
Positive  exercises  are  needed  such  as  will  develop  the 
general  co-ordination  of  the  tone  passage  and  the  re- 
tention of  the  breath. 

Even  this  is  not  sufficient.  As  already  stated,  the 
habit  must  be  corrected.  The  mental  action  or  feeling 
which  originally  caused  the  constriction  must  be  re- 
moved or  the  cause  will  again  operate  and  once  more 
produce  the  effect.  Faults,  however,  frequently  remain 
after  this  has  been  corrected,  so  that  its  elimination 


148  MIND   AND   VOICE 

is  not  of  itself  sufficient.  There  must  also  be  some 
fundamental  training. 

While  in  ordinary  voices  all  that  is  needed  in  the  cor- 
rection of  faults  is  the  mastery  of  the  first  simple  exer- 
cises, occasional  cases  are  found  where  long  continued 
perversions  and  bad  habits  directly  interfere  with  the 
mastery  of  the  fundamental  conditions  of  true  tone 
production. 

In  such  cases  there  should  be  a  careful  observation  of 
local  conditions  and  an  indication  to  the  student  of  the 
specific  locality  of  the  constrictions  which  prevent  him 
from  establishing  the  primary  conditions. 

This  local  attention  must,  however,  be  directly  as- 
sociated with  the  practice  of  some  simple  exercise.  The 
only  way  to  open  the  throat  or  remove  constrictions  from 
the  tone  passage  is  by  the  right  management  of  the 
breath;  so  that  a  consciousness  of  the  local  conditions 
or  constriction  can  be  helpful  only  by  being  associated 
with  the  deeper  consciousness  of  the  foundation  principle. 
It  is  easy  to  bring  the  study  of  the  local  part  into  sym- 
pathetic relation  with  the  mastery  of  this.  The  con- 
sciousness, while  directed  to  sympathetic  retention  of 
the  breath  and  to  relaxation  of  the  tone  passage,  can  be 
more  specifically  cognizant  of  the  passivity  of  a  local 
part.  This  is  the  bringing  of  the  sense  of  relaxation  in 
such  a  part  into  sympathetic  union  with  the  right  con- 
dition of  everything  concerned  in  tone  production. 

The  adjunctive  assistance  of  the  local  study  of  faults 
is  often  necessary  on  account  of  a  total  unconsciousness 
of  right  tone  conditions.  The  throat  has  so  long  been 
constricted  and  the  action  of  the  breathing  so  discon- 
nected, that  the  student  is  wholly  unaware  of  the  lack  of 
openness  in  his  tone  passage  or  of  any  sympathetic  action 
between  its  relaxation  and  the  retention  of  the  breath. 

It  is  astonishing  how  unconscious  most  men  are  of 
the  peculiarities  of  their  own  voices.  Many  persons  will 


RESPIRATORY   CO-ORDINATIONS  I4Q 

resent  the  statement  that  their  voices  are  throaty,  nasal, 
flat,  or  hard.  They  honestly  do  not  feel  these  faults  but 
regard  them  as  personal  peculiarities.  This  is  due  to 
the  fact  that  habit  has  displaced  nature.  The  person 
has  so  long  used  perverted  tones  that  he  is  unconscious 
of  the  real  character  of  his  voice.  We  are  more  aware 
of  what  we  habitually  are  than  of  what  we  might  pos- 
sibly become.  Habit  may  violate  nature's  primary 
intention;  it  may  become  so  confirmed  as  to  pervert 
the  consciousness  of  our  true  selves;  it  may  make  us 
feel  that  the  greatest  unnaturalness  is  natural  to  us. 
Hence  it  is  necessary  in  all  training  to  make  the  student 
conscious  of  his  possibilities,  of  nature's  ideal  intention 
regarding  what  is  normal  not  only  for  the  race  but  for 
himself. 

The  local  study  of  faults  is  important  in  making  the 
student  conscious  of  his  defects  and  revealing  to  him 
the  direction  in  which  improvement  should  be  mani- 
fested. It  is  negative,  however,  and  should  always  be 
united  to  the  use  of  exercises  and  the  positive  develop- 
ment of  the  voice  according  to  primary  principles. 

Mastery  of  these  exercises  and  initiatory  conditions 
frequently  eliminates  throatiness  and  nasality  without 
bringing  them  directly  to  the  attention  of  the  student. 

Faults  are  more  or  less  mixed  in  character,  and  in  the 
primary  exercises  for  positive  control  of  the  principle 
they  are  often  corrected  together.  In  fact,  the  great 
majority  of  voices  are  simply  undeveloped,  and  the  com- 
bined throatiness,  muscular  constrictions,  flatness, 
nasality,  or  narrowness,  cannot  be  indicated  with  suffi- 
cient clearness  by  the  teacher  to  make  the  student  con- 
scious of  his  most  salient  faults.  Nor  is  this  always 
necessary;  positive  exercises  of  the  preceding  lessons 
will  eradicate  all  defects. 

Where  the  condition  of  throatiness  or  nasality  is  so 
extreme  as  to  hinder  absolutely  any  true  progress  in 


150  MIND    AND   VOICE 

producing  the  fundamental  exercises,  expedients  must 
be  adopted  to  reveal  the  condition  to  the  student.  He 
must  learn  the  location  of  the  constriction  and  practice 
his  exercises  in  such  a  way  as  directly  to  co-ordinate 
passivity  at  this  point  with  activity  in  his  breathing. 

In  other  cases  too  much  attention  to  faults  may  tend 
to  fix  them  or  cause  them  to  grow  worse,  simply  because 
they  have  been  emphasized  in  a  pupil's  mind. 

While  faults  are  purely  negative,  their  disappearance 
is  a  chief  sign  of  the  mastery  of  the  principles  of  the 
preceding  lessons.  Accordingly,  it  is  well  to  classify 
them  and  give  them  some  specific  analysis  and 
study. 

Faults  have  been  named  by  the  instincts  of  the  race, 
from  the  impression  received  of  the  overuse  of  certain 
parts;  such  as  throatiness,  which  results  from  constric- 
tion of  the  throat,  and  nasality,  some  kind  of  a  perver- 
sion of  the  narial  vibrations. 

Another  class  of  faults  is  characterized  by  analogy  to 
other  things;  hardness,  for  example,  occurs  where  the 
tone  does  not  seem  mellow,  flexible,  or  elastic,  where 
an  impression  of  harshness  is  received.  Flatness  is  a 
common  name  for  a  certain  fault,  and  metallic  quality  is 
so  named  because  of  the  analogy  of  the  sound  to  the 
vibration  of  some  metallic  substance  rather  than  to  the 
violin  or  some  instrument  associated  with  the  vibration 
of  a  ligament. 

I.   THROATINESS. 

One  fault  which  students  can  be  made  to  recognize 
easily  is  due  to  certain  muscular  constriction  in  the 
neighborhood  of  the  back  of  the  tongue.  This  fault  is 
common;  in  fact,  every  untrained  voice  has  too  much 
muscular  constriction  of  the  tongue  or  the  pharynx. 
This  is  especially  true  when  the  voice  is  called  upon  to 
perform  any  unusual  action.  Too  much  muscular  work 


RESPIRATORY    CO-ORDINATIONS  151 

is  introduced.  The  swallowing  muscles  become  active 
or  the  back  of  the  tongue  rises  on  account  of  the  fact 
that  the  heavy  ones  under  the  tongue  are  brought  into 
activity. 

Most  men,  when  they  make  an  effort  to  improve  tone, 
instead  of  increasing  the  motive  power  double  the  activity 
at  the  back  of  the  tongue  and  throat.  This  fault  is  simply 
a  prevention  of  the  free  outflow  of  sound  waves. 

The  presence  of  throatiness  can  be  detected  by  the 
simple  placing  of  the  finger  across  the  throat  Exercise  49. 
just  above  the  Adam's  apple.    With  the  finger  fSSS^ai 
in  this  position  in  swallowing  we  can  feel  Muscles- 
the  muscles  harden  under  the  finger.     But  in  making 
free,  easy,  soft  tones  these  are  relaxed.    The  student 
can  experiment  with  himself  in  relaxing  these  parts,  and 
give  "ah."     He  will  notice  a  marvelous  difference  in 
the  tone  produced  in  each  case. 

Usually  he  will  need  to  put  the  forefinger  of  one  hand 
across  his  teacher's  throat  and  that  of  the  other  upon 
his  own.  It  is  necessary  to  make  a  sustained  tone  to 
use  this  test  or  expedient  because  any  inflection  causes 
a  movement  of  the  larynx  and  the  student  might  mistake 
the  action  of  these  parts  for  the  muscles  connected  with 
his  pharynx.  By  making  a  sustained  tone  as  relaxed  as 
possible,  and  speaking  certain  words,  the  teacher  can  lead 
the  student  to  realize  unnatural  and  muscular  constriction. 

Another  good  test  is  to  prolong  "  1 "  or  "  m  "  sym- 
pathetically and  with  great  relaxation  of  the  throat.  The 
ear  should  be  trained  to  detect  the  difference  between 
normal  and  throaty  qualities  both  in  others  and  hi  one- 
self, but  the  ability  to  bring  the  sense  of  touch  to  bear 
as  an  aid  to  the  ear  is  of  great  importance;  for  where- 
ever  it  is  possible  we  should  bring  forward  more  than 
one  sense  in  the  testing  of  a  principle. 

In  work  upon  throatiness  we  find  an  important  princi- 
ple. The  relaxation  of  unnecessarily  cramped  muscles 


152  MIND   AND   VOICE 

can  be  secured  only  by  accentuation  of  the  primary  co- 
ordination, activity  in  the  middle  of  the  body,  and  pas- 
sivity at  the  throat.  But  by  uniting  the  consciousness 
of  the  constriction  with  the  fundamental  activity  in  the 
middle  of  the  body  in  such  a  way  as  to  cause  the  sym- 
pathetic relaxation  or  elimination  of  this  constriction  we 
find  the  fundamental  principle  developed  simultane- 
ously with  the  elimination  of  the  fault. 

No  feeling  can  be  created  by  mere  local  action.  There 
must  be  a  fundamental  principle.  The  whole  action  of 
the  voice  is  a  co-ordination ;  part  is  related  to  part.  In 
every  fault  there  will  be  found  some  wrong  action  in  the 
mind  and  more  or  less  in  the  whole  vocal  mechanism. 
Constriction  at  the  throat,  other  things  being  equal,  is 
always  associated  with  some  constriction  of  the  breath. 
A  fault  has,  if  nothing  more,  a  reflex  action  upon  other 
parts.  The  cause  of  throatiness  is  not  merely  a  local 
constriction  but  a  misuse  of  other  parts.  Frequently  it 
is  due  to  lack  of  centrality  of  breathing  or  to  labored 
respiratory  action  in  the  use  of  the  voice. 

This  is  why  the  management  of  the  breath,  the  right 
establishment  of  co-ordination  tends  to  correct  the  fault. 
The  only  case  in  which  it  does  not  is  where  there  is 
such  local  habitual  constriction  that  co-ordination  is  too 
subtle  to  cause  the  parts  to  respond  immediately.  Di- 
rect attention  to  the  relaxation  so  as  to  secure  this  and 
then  the  bringing  in  of  the  normal  activity  or  centrality 
of  breathing  will  soon  establish  co-ordinate  response. 

One  of  the  best  exercises  for  the  consciousness  and 
Exercise  so.  the  correction  of  throatiness  is  to  use  the 
s^£aiof  consonant  element  "  th "  in  "thy,"  or 

Vibration.       «  there  „  Of  «  those>»     Thig  can  be  practiced 

separately  making  it  a  continuous  buzz,  relaxing  the 
back  of  the  tongue  and  pharynx  and  allowing  the  tone 
to  pass  out  freely.  The  parts  can  also  be  consciously 
constricted  for  a  moment  to  show  not  only  throatiness 


RESPIRATORY   CO-ORDINATIONS  153 

but  a  common  fault  in  articulation.  One  of  the  helps 
to  eliminate  throatiness  is  work  which  will  be  later  dis- 
cussed in  studying  the  true  character  of  speech. 

This  exercise  causes  the  tip  of  the  tongue  to  be  raised 
against  the  upper  teeth;  when  there  is  a  tendency  to 
use  also  the  muscles  of  the  back  of  the  tongue  there  will 
be  a  failure  to  localize  the  function  of  the  front  of  the 
tongue  hi  producing  this  element.  The  whole  tongue 
will  be  constricted,  and  there  will  be  a  certain  stiff- 
ness at  both  tip  and  base.  Raising  the  tip,  and  keep- 
ing the  back  of  the  tongue  perfectly  relaxed,  we  can 
feel  the  natural  conditions  by  the  thumb  or  finger 
above  the  larynx  and  under  the  tongue  while  giving 
the  tone. 

The  fault  is  brought  to  the  consciousness  of  the  stu- 
dent, his  finger  is  placed  upon  the  spot  of  the  constriction, 
and  at  the  same  time  he  can  practice  starts  by  co-ordi- 
nating respiratory  activity  with  the  passivity  of  the  throat, 
directing  attention  to  the  parts  habitually  constricted. 
All  laboredness  and  wrong  muscular  actions  can  thus  be 
eliminated  from  the  pharynx  and  the  tone  be  no  longer 
throaty  or  gutteral  but  open,  free,  and  resonant.  We 
may  then  practice  the  initiation  of  co-ordinations,  to 
be  explained  later,  with  this  element  before  "  ah  "  or 
"  oh."  Such  exercises  make  the  correction  of  throati- 
ness an  easy  matter.  Improvement  will  be  almost 
immediate. 

Other  starts  can  also  be  practiced,  such  as  "  v  "  or 
"  1 "  before  "  ah  "  in  the  same  way.  "  L  "  is  even  a 
more  sympathetic  element  than  "  th,"  and  if  "  th " 
does  not  immediately  cause  a  response  "  1 "  may  be 
tried  as  a  temporary  expedient.  Or  "  z  "  and  "  m  "  or 
any  continuous  voice  consonant  may  be  used. 

Another  helpful  exercise  is  to  look  into  the  mouth 
while  relaxing  the  tongue  as  much  as  possible.  One 
should  be  able  to  see  the  pharynx  between  the  soft 


154  MIND   AND   VOICE 

palate  and  the  tongue  through  an  almost  round  opening. 
The  space  should  be  as  great  upward  and  downward 
as  from  side  to  side.  The  whole  passage  should  be  re- 
laxed. The  tip  of  the  tongue  should  rest  against  the 
lower  teeth,  and  then  the  student  can  make  his  starts 
with  "  ah." 

In  practicing  "  th  "  and  "  1 "  it  is  also  well  to  feel  the 
easy,  sympathetic  vibrations  of  the  whole  mouth,  and 
to  note  that  when  there  is  constriction  in  the  back  of 
the  tongue  the  sympathetic  vibrations  of  any  of  the  con- 
sonants such  as  "  m  "  will  be  improved.  Very  sym- 
pathetic vibration  in  voice  consonants  is  an  essential 
element  of  their  nature  and  its  development  is  of  funda- 
mental importance  in  improving  articulation. 

It  will  be  shown  later  that  faults  of  tone  and  of  arti- 
culation are  often,  perhaps  always,  found  together. 

Still  another  good  exercise  is  to  take  "  th  "  and  "  ah  " 
and  give  many  repetitions  of  the  syllable  rhythmically  on 
one  pitch.  This  may  be  practiced  with  different  metric 
feet.  The  teacher  can  easily  arrange  some  pleasing 
rhythmic  phrase  which  will  help  to  eliminate  throatiness 
by  giving  alternation  of  activity  and  passivity,  or  of 
strong  and  weak  words  or  syllables.  This  will  also 
help  to  develop  vocal  quantity  and  retention  of  breath. 

Another  exercise  may  be  found  in  "  v."  In  this  the 
tongue  is  completely  passive.  It  is  possibly  the  easiest  of 
all  the  elements  to  eliminate  constrictions  from  the  back 
of  the  tongue,  and  may  be  used  as  an  expedient  when 
the  student  cannot  produce  the  other  elements  without 
constriction. 

Give  the  word  "  thou  "  at  the  beginning  of  the  follow- 

Exercisesi  mg  w^  the  whole  tnroat  °Pen  an(1  relaxed, 
geedomof*  Especially  keep  the  back  of  the  tongue  re- 
laxed in  the  consonant  sound  "  th."  Give 
the  diphthong  as  open  as  possible.  Repeat  this  word 
many  times  on  a  definite  pitch,  with  an  instrument  if 


RESPIRATORY   CO-ORDINATIONS  155 

convenient.  Accentuate  the  co-ordination  of  all  the 
fundamental  conditions.  The  whole  of  the  second  pas- 
sage may  be  rendered  with  recitative  preserving  the 
feeling  of  admiration. 

Thou  deadly  crater,  moulded  by  my  muse, 
Cast  thou  thy  bronze  into  my  bowed  and  wounded  heart, 
And  let  my  soul  its  vengeance  to  thy  bronze  impart. 

On  the  cannon  purchased  by  receipts  Victor  Hugo, 

from  his  public  readings. 

COLERIDGE. 

Thine  is  the  mystic  melody, 

The  far-off  murmur  of  some  dreamland  sea 

Lilting  throughout  the  night, 

Up  to  the  moon's  mild  light, 

Waves  silver-lustrous,  silvery-white, 

That  beat  in  rhythm  on  the  shadowy  shore, 

And  burst  in  music,  and  are  seen  no  more. 

George  S.  Hellman. 
II.   NASALITY. 

Nasality  is  usually  regarded  as  tone  passing  out 
through  the  nose ;  but  this  is  only  one  aspect  or  kind  of 
nasality. 

Nasality,  in  the  ordinary  sense,  is  caused  by  some 
constriction,  usually  at  the  summit  of  the  pharynx; 
as  throatiness  is  a  constriction  in  the  lower  part  of  the 
pharynx. 

In  all  nasality  there  is  also  constriction  of  the  tongue, 
so  much  so  that  some  able  teachers,  such  as  Mr.  William 
Shakespeare,  believed  that  the  trouble  is  wholly  caused 
by  a  cramp  or  elevation  of  the  back  of  the  tongue.  Of 
course,  there  will  be  constriction  in  the  soft  palate  as  well. 

Its  correction  must  consist  in  getting  complete  relaxa- 
tion and  a  greater  openness  of  the  gateway  of  the  voice. 

There  are  three  kinds  of  nasality. 

The  first  is  due  simply  to  relaxation  or  weakness  of 
the  soft  palate.  This  is  so  low  that  the  tone  strikes 
against  it  and  must  pass  out  through  the  nose.  I  have 
found  this  species  more  frequently  in  the  south. 


156  MIND   AND  VOICE 

The  second  form  which  is  frequent  in  most  parts  of 
the  United  States,  is  entirely  different.  It  is  caused 
primarily  by  a  constriction  of  the  back  of  the  tongue  and 
usually  also  of  the  pillars  of  the  soft  palate.  This  brings 
the  latter  somewhat  downward,  and  cramps  at  the  sum- 
mit of  the  pharynx,  thus  perverting  the  normal  or  narial 
vibrations  and  causing  a  prominence  of  those  which  are 
abnormal  or  nasal.  The  tone  is  harder  than  in  the 
first  named  kind  of  nasality.  It  is  often  united  to  a 
species  of  flatness,  the  next  fault  of  the  voice  to  be 
discussed. 

It  is  the  prevalence  of  this  species  of  nasality,  especially 
among  Americans,  that  has  led  Mr.  Shakespeare  and 
others  to  consider  it  the  only  kind.  Further  observation 
will  convince  anyone  that  there  are  various  forms  caused 
by  the  different  location  of  the  limitation  of  the  openness 
of  the  pharynx. 

The  third  form  is  due  to  the  obstructions  of  the  nose. 
This  is  more  properly  called  a  catarrhal  quality  of  voice. 
On  account  of  mucous  or  other  obstructions,  the  nasal 
passages  are  completely  obstructed,  and  there  is  an 
elimination  of  the  true  narial  vibrations. 

Many  have  said  that  this  is  the  only  type  of  nasality; 
and  is  not  due  to  speaking  through  the  nose  but  to  not 
doing  so.  This  illustrates  the  cause  of  many  onesided 
statements.  Such  persons  have  had  their  attention 
specifically  called  to  a  single  species  and  have  made 
their  generalization  from  too  little  observation. 

All  three  forms  are  due  to  obstructions  and  perver- 
sions of  the  resonance  of  the  voice. 

I  once  taught  a  young  man  who  had  almost  entirely 
eliminated  from  his  voice  the  narial  vibrations.  Practi- 
cally he  had  no  "  m,"  "  n,"  or  "  ng."  He  had  received 
an  idea  that  any  vibration  in  the  nose  was  wrong.  The 
effect  of  his  voice  was  exceedingly  curious  and  abnormal, 
and  he  came  to  me  for  an  examination. 


RESPIRATORY    CO-ORDINATIONS  157 

It  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  resonance  of  the 
nasal  passages  is  one  of  the  richest  and  most  important 
elements  in  the  human  voice.  Any  obstruction  of  this 
element  of  resonance  is  the  most  disagreeable  of  all 
perversions.  The  establishment  of  the  true  narial  vi- 
brations of  the  voice  must  primarily  depend  upon  the 
fundamental  conditions,  and  especially  upon  the  relaxa- 
tion of  the  back  of  the  tongue  and  the  soft  palate.  The 
free  emission  of  the  voice  implies  necessarily  the  right 
action  of  the  breathing  and  the  harmonious  vibration  of 
the  whole  nasal  chambers. 

Any  imperfection  in  the  narial  vibrations  demands 
great  care  in  removing  constrictions  from  the  region  of 
the  soft  palate,  whether  that  fault  serves  to  shut  the  soft 
palate  too  closely,  relax  it  too  much  or  simply  to  cramp 
it  in  connection  with  the  back  of  the  tongue. 

The  correction  of  nasality  requires  the  awakening  of 
the  consciousness  of  the  student  to  the  presence  and 
nature  of  the  fault.  Many  persons  with  the  most  nasal 
voices  are  absolutely  skeptical  regarding  them. 

Take  the  last  four  lines  of  Longfellow's  "  Building  of 
the  Ship."    Change  the  word  "  triumphant  "  Exercise  52. 
to  "victorious."     This  will  not  break  the  gSJovitea- 
metre  and  will  give  four  lines  without  an  tion~ lf 
"  m,"  "  n,"  or  "  ng."    Give  these  lines  as  hearty  and  free 
expression  as  possible,  and  place  the  thumb  and  finger 
suddenly  over  the  nose  to  close  the  nostrils.    Open  and 
close  also  at  times  while  speaking  the  lines.    If  the  con- 
tact of  the  fingers  makes  a  difference  in  the  tone  it  is 
nasal;  if  the  closure  makes  no  difference  then  the  tone 
is  free  from  nasality. 

Our  hearts,  our  hopes,  are  all  with  thee : 
Our  hearts,  our  hopes,  our  prayers,  our  tears, 
Our  faith,  victorious  o'er  our  fears, 

Are  all  with  Thee,  —  are  all  with  Thee ! 

Longfellow. 


*5  MIND   AND   VOICE 

Lift  up  your  hearts,  ye  people,  O  be  proud. 
"  Memorial  Day  "  Hagedorn. 

Such  lines  may  also  serve  not  only  as  an  expedient  to 
detect  nasality  but  to  discover  in  which  elements  it  most 
predominates.  Render  these  lines  earnestly  and  sin- 
cerely and  as  naturally  as  possible,  with  the  proper 
emotion,  and  note  carefully,  as  you  repeat  the  passage 
or  some  one  line  of  it  several  times,  which  of  the  elements 
are  most  nasal.  This  can  be  done  by  keeping  the  thumb 
and  finger  upon  the  nostrils. 

When  there  is  no  "  m  "  or  "  n  "  the  closing  of  the  nose 
will  make  no  difference  in  the  vibration  if  nasality  is 
absent.  True  tones,  except  the  nasal  elements,  pass  out 
through  the  mouth  and  the  narial  vibrations  are  merely 
sympathetic.  There  is  no  emission  of  breath  through  the 
nose,  that  is,  the  narial  chambers  act  as  agents  of  second- 
ary vibration,  while  in  nasal  tone  the  vibrating  breath 
seems  to  escape  partially  through  the  nasal  passages. 

Such  an  expedient  brings  some  surprises.  One  is 
that  the  vowels  are  not  so  nasal  as  the  voice  consonants. 
It  will  also  be  found  that  the  same  elements  are  not 
equally  nasal  in  two  voices  which  appear  to  have  the  same 
amount  of  nasality.  We  find  "  r,"  "  z,"  "  th  "  in 
"  thy,"  and  "  1 "  most  apt  to  be  nasal  of  all  the  ele- 
ments in  human  speech. 

This  indicates  a  remedy  in  technical  exercises.  Prac- 
tice starts  with  these  voice  consonants.  Accentuate  the 
openness  and  freedom  of  the  passages  and  carefully 
observe  that  there  is  no  nasality  hi  the  initiatory  con- 
sonants ;  a  radical  method  is  then  found  for  the  technical 
correction  of  nasality.  The  elements  that  are  most 
nasal  can  receive  most  corrective  practice. 

The  nature  of  nasality  can  be  observed  in  another 
Exercise  S3.  way  from  that  already  described.  Take  the 
Narii°vitL-  letter  "  m  "  and  prolong  it,  first  relaxing  the 
tion— n.  whole  tone  passage  as  much  as  possible. 


RESPIRATORY   CO-ORDINATIONS  159 

Allow  the  lips  alone  to  be  in  juxtaposition,  the  tongue 
limp,  the  whole  interior  of  the  mouth  relaxed,  and 
note  the  quality  of  the  "  m."  Then  cramp  the  tongue 
and  soft  palate,  and  note  the  change.  Here  we  meet  a 
most  important  aspect  of  nasality.  After  all  "  m,"  "  n," 
or  "  ng,"  may  be  nasal  in  a  worse  sense  than  any  other 
element.  These  can  be  narial  in  the  true  sense,  or 
nasal  in  a  bad  sense,  and  the  cause  of  the  latter  is 
constriction. 

For  the  correction  of  any  form  of  nasality  pronounce 
words  with  "  m,"  "  n,"  or  "  ng,"  sympathetically  relaxing 
the  throat  and  nose  and  allowing  a  continuous  rich  vi- 
bration. Be  sure  that  there  is  relaxation  and  endeavor  to 
get  all  the  constrictions  out  of  the  soft  palate.  The  nasal 
elements,  however  frequently  the  fact  is  overlooked, 
must  be  practiced  for  the  true  correction  of  nasality. 

Give  "  n  "  or  "  m  "  before  or  after  a  vowel,  and  note 
that  there  is  a  free,  natural,  rich  vibration,  which  changes 
immediately  at  the  beginning  or  end  of  the  vowel. 

A  helpful  exercise  in  correcting  many  forms  of  nasality 
is  the  one  already  named  "  agility  of  the  soft  „ 

Exercise  54. 

palate."  Not  only  can  this  be  practiced  Hexibmty  of 
with  the  vowel  "  ah,"  but  with  all  other  vow- 
els. In  making  any  vowel,  the  soft  palate  and  the 
back  of  the  tongue  should  be  far  apart.  We  should 
test  our  power  to  give  different  vowels  with  the  back  of 
the  tongue  relaxed  and  low,  and  the  soft  palate  high. 
Now,  in  the  consonant  element  "  ng  "  (which,  of  course, 
is  neither  "  n  "  or  "  g,"  but  a  simple  and  distinct  element, 
as  definite  as  "  n  "  is  from  "  m  ")  the  back  of  the  tongue 
and  the  soft  palate  are  brought  together.  By  following 
"  ng  "  with  any  vowel,  and  making  a  quick  jump  from 
one  to  the  other,  we  can  secure  agility  of  the  back  of 
the  tongue  and  the  soft  palate,  and  also  test  the  open- 
ness of  all  the  vowels  and  their  freedom  from  nasality. 
By  keeping  the  front  of  the  tongue,  the  jaw,  and  the 


160  MIND   AND   VOICE 

mouth  relaxed,  one  may  develop  by  this  practice  an 
elemental  action  of  the  back  of  the  tongue  and  of  the 
soft  palate.  This  produces  agility  in  passing  from  a 
narial  vibration  to  a  vibration  of  the  mouth,  that  is,  from 
a  nasal  consonant  so  called,  to  a  vowel.  This  quick 
action  is  really  necessary,  and  lack  of  it  is  one  of  the 
most  important  of  all  the  technical  causes  of  nasality, 
and  the  student  can  make  no  progress  unless  he  recog- 
nizes it  for  himself. 

The  foregoing  exercises  are  helpful  in  the  develop- 
ment of  openness  of  the  voice  as  well  as  in  correcting 
nasality. 

III.   FLATNESS   OR   HARDNESS. 

Flatness,  as  a  fault  of  voice,  is  caused  chiefly  by  con- 
striction of  the  pillars  of  the  soft  palate.  In  throatiness, 
the  central  portion  of  the  pharynx  or  the  parts  opposite 
the  base  at  the  back  of  the  tongue  are  cramped.  In 
nasality  the  summit  of  the  pharynx  or  the  parts  acting 
in  unison  with  the  upward  movements  of  the  back  of  the 
tongue  especially  are  cramped.  But  in  flatness,  the  con- 
strictions are  located  chiefly  at  the  sides  of  the  tone 
passage,  especially  in  the  posterior  pillars  of  the  soft 
palate. 

The  cause  of  this  fault  is  some  habitually  unemotional 
attitude  of  the  mind.  It  is  the  primary  element  in  an  un- 
sympathetic use  of  the  voice.  One  of  the  most  important 
forms  in  all  such  uses  of  the  voice  is  the  "school-room 
tone  "  of  children.  It  is  common  among  teachers,  where- 
ever  we  find  thinking  without  feeling  or  a  mechanical 
forcing  of  the  voice,  such  as  that  of  one  who  is  not  inter- 
ested in  his  work  but  who  teaches  from  a  sense  of  duty 
or  as  a  business,  or  who  seems  to  feel  it  necessary  to 
drive  ideas  into  what  he  considers  "  hard  "  heads. 

The  defect,  however,  is  found  hi  all  walks  of  life  and 
its  nature  and  correction,  with  the  eradication  of  its 


RESPIRATORY   CO-ORDINATIONS  l6l 

causes,  are  important.  It  is  a  disagreeable  quality  of 
voice  and  a  great  hindrance  to  success. 

It  is  possibly  synonymous  with  hardness.  At  any 
rate,  they  are  so  similar  that  it  is  hardly  necessary  to 
seek  the  distinction  between  them.  Hardness  may  be 
due  to  a  narrowness  of  the  tone  passage  which  scarcely 
seems  to  extend  throughout  the  whole  passage,  but  the 
constriction  will  be  found,  as  stated,  in  nearly  every 
case,  in  the  pillars  of  the  soft  palate.  Hardness  is,  from 
the  point  of  view  of  sound,  the  elimination  of  the  sym- 
pathetic vibrations.  Hard  tones  always  lack  resonance. 
In  fact,  resonance  may  be  perverted  or  eliminated  so 
completely  from  the  tone  that  the  person  becomes  in- 
capable of  expressing  any  tenderness  or  love. 

How  can  this  fault  be  eradicated?  It  is  perhaps  more 
psychic  hi  its  character  than  either  nasality  or  throati- 
ness.  To  correct  it,  the  student's  imagination  and  sym- 
pathy must  be  awakened;  he  needs  to  realize  the 
importance  of  point  of  view.  He  should  develop  the 
power  to  respond  sympathetically  to  every  successive 
situation  and  must  train  the  primary  actions  of  the 
dramatic  instinct.  He  should  not  adopt  a  merely  neu- 
tral attitude  toward  truth  but  sympathetically  identify 
himself  with  all  characters  and  events  and  receive  a  gen- 
uine impression  from  every  idea. 

What  technical  work  will  be  most  effective  in  the  cor- 
rection of  hardness  or  flatness? 

Exercises  of  sympathetic  and  delicate  nature  will 
cause  not  only  the  relaxation  of  the  tone  passage  but 
openness  as  well. 

The  student,  when  practicing  such  an  exercise  to  cor- 
rect flatness  or  hardness,  must  attend  to  the  action  of 
his  tone  passage.  He  should  relax  the  pillars  of  the  soft 
palate  and  the  back  of  the  tongue.  Constriction  at  these 
pillars  will  be  necessarily  associated  with  constriction  in 
the  tongue  and  pharynx. 


162  MIND   AND   VOICE 

The  practice  of  extreme  transitions  in  feeling  will  also 
prove  helpful.  In  this  case  the  sudden  change  of  emotion 
demands  the  relaxation  of  the  texture  of  the  muscles 
of  the  whole  body,  and  especially  of  the  throat,  and  in 
flatness  and  hardness  such  a  condition  is  absolutely 
necessary. 

It  is  also  well  to  follow  technical  exercises  which 
secure  direct  realization,  as  it  tests  the  subconscious 
possessions  of  the  conditions  and  the  mastery  of  the 
responses. 

The  greatest  reliance,  however,  must  be  placed  on 
the  sympathetic  and  persevering  practice  of  lyrics  ex- 
pressing admiration  of  nature,  love  of  home,  or  some 
form  of  tenderness. 

It  will  be  found  that  flatness  is  nearly  always  associated 
with  the  second  kind  of  nasality.  It  is  often  found  with 
throatiness  also.  These  are  all  due  to  constriction  of  the 
tone  passage,  and  will  be  found  more  or  less  combined 
with  one  another.  They  must  be  corrected  by  a  thorough 
mastery  of  the  preparatory  actions  and  conditions  for 
speech.  Their  correction  must  be  radical.  The  study  of 
local  conditions  can  only  help  this  treatment  which  must 
not  be  merely  physical.  The  habits  of  mind  which  have 
caused  the  faults  must  be  eliminated. 

Other  defects  may  be  observed  which  are  caused  by 
constriction  of  the  pharynx.  Persons  trying  to  be  gentle 
in  speech  sometimes  lessen  the  tone  passage  and  speak 
with  small  vowel  chambers.  The  effect  is  to  diminish 
the  openness  and  richness  of  vibration  and  to  lose  their 
true  vocal  force. 

In  other  cases  there  is  a  muscular  constriction  through 
the  whole  pharynx  so  that  it  is  difficult  to  say  whether 
the  voice  is  throaty,  nasal,  or  flat.  The  fault  is  rather 
muscular  than  otherwise. 

In  any  case,  the  whole  pharynx  must  be  relaxed  and 
open  in  union  with  the  breathing.  Step  by  step,  in  the 


RESPIRATORY    CO-ORDINATIONS  163 

practice  of  the  starts,  the  student  must  endeavor  to  get 
his  tone  passage  more  and  more  open,  a  greater  and 
greater  amount  of  breath  being  retained  in  the  lungs 
until  this  retention  is  not  only  habitual,  but  developed 
and  accentuated  so  as  to  become  part  of  the  preparatory 
response  in  vivid  and  in  passionate  thinking. 

In  the  practice  of  all  exclamations,  starts,  or  in  the 
rendering  of  lyrics,  in  fact,  in  any  exercise  for  the  cor- 
rection of  hardness  and  flatness,  particular  attention 
should  be  paid  to  the  easy  and  sympathetic  retention  of 
a  great  amount  of  breath.  In  many  cases,  hardness  or 
narrowness  of  tone  will  be  caused  by  introducing  effort 
to  send  the  voice  to  a  distance  without  taking  a  sufficient 
amount  of  breath.  This  unusual  effort  going  to  the  throat 
narrows  and  constricts  the  whole  passage. 

It  cannot  be  too  strongly  impressed  upon  us  that  even 
the  primary  method  of  opening  the  tone  passage  elimi- 
nates all  constrictions  and  faults  associated  with  the 
misuse  of  the  pharynx  but  depends  upon  the  easy,  har- 
monious retention  of  a  large  amount  of  breath.  Only  by 
this  means  can  the  co-ordinate  conditions  be  established. 

Render  with  great  tenderness  Tennyson's  "  Sweet 
and  Low."  Accentuate  the  co-ordination  of  Exercise  ss. 

Respir  atory 

the  preparatory  actions  and  breathing  or  the  and  pharyn- 

geal  Co-ordina- 

primary  actions  and  conditions  of  the  dia-tions— v. 
phragm,  —  but  especially  the  passivity  of  the  pharynx, 
endeavoring  to  make  the  vibration  as  soft  and  rich  as 
possible.  Repeat  some  of  the  short  phrases  many  times, 
always  under  the  conditions  of  the  primary  co-ordina- 
tion of  the  tone  until  an  harmonious,  relaxed  openness 
of  the  whole  tone  passage  is  thoroughly  established. 

Sweet  and  low,  sweet  and  low,  wind  of  the  western  sea, 
Low,  low,  breathe  and  blow,  wind  of  the  western  sea ! 
Over  the  rolling  waters  go, 
Come  from  the  dying  moon  and  blow, 

Blow  him  again  to  me ; 
While  my  little  one,  while  my  pretty  one,  sleeps. 


164  MIND   AND   VOICE 

Sleep  and  rest,  sleep  and  rest,  father  will  come  to  thee  soon; 
Rest,  rest  on  mother's  breast,  father  will  come  to  thee  soon; 
Father  will  come  to  his  babe  in  the  nest, 
Silver  sails  all  out  of  the  west 
Under  the  silver  moon: 

Sleep,  my  little  one,  sleep,  my  pretty  one,  sleep. 

Tennyson. 

Give  the  word  "  life  "  at  the  beginning  of  the  following 
lines  with  as  much  openness  and  relaxation  of  the  tone 
passage  as  possible.  Let  the  vibrations  be  free  from  any 
throatiness  on  the  one  hand  and  nasality  on  the  other. 
Prolong  the  "  1 "  and  the  vowel  freely;  test  the  absence 
of  constrictions  both  at  the  base  of  the  tongue  and  in 
the  nose  and  render  the  whole  poem  with  free  vibrations. 

Life !  I  know  not  what  thou  art, 
But  know  that  thou  and  I  must  part; 
And  when,  or  how,  or  where  we  met 
I  own  to  me  's  a  secret  yet.  .  .  . 
Life !  we  've  been  long  together, 
Through  pleasant  and  through  cloudy  weather; 
JT  is  hard  to  part  when  friends  are  dear,  — 
Perhaps  't  will  cost  a  sigh,  a  tear; 
Then  steal  away,  give  little  warning, 

Choose  thine  own  time; 
Say  not  Good-Night,  —  but  in  some  brighter  clime 

Bid  me  Good  Morning. 
• '  Lif  e  "  Anna  Letitia  Barbauld. 

Many  exclamatory  passages  occurring  in  operas  where 
there  is  a  sudden  outcry  of  surprise  or  extreme  feeling 
can  be  found  for  such  illustrations.  The  principle  of 
surprise  in  song,  especially  in  opera,  can  be  employed 
as  a  means  of  showing  the  student  the  naturalness  of 
his  exercise,  and  also  of  connecting  conditions  of  tone 
with  his  consciousness.  The  matter  is  of  real  impor- 
tance. Students  of  singing  sometimes  struggle  for  years 
to  get  hold  of  some  principle,  and  such  phrases  will  help 
them  more  quickly  to  realize  the  laws  of  their  art. 

Rise,  rise,  O  bird,  mount,  mount  and  sing. 


RESPIRATORY    CO-ORDINATIONS  165 

Render  some  passage  full  of  animation  and  feeling, 
such  as  the  following,  accentuating  the  funda- 
mental conditions,  making  the  tone  as  roundly  Freedom  of ' 
and  as  openly  as  possible.    Let  all  the  vowels 
be  large  and  full,  give  fervor  and  resonance  to  the  voice, 
but  keep  the  whole  throat  so  relaxed,  so  open,  that  there 
will  be  no  tendency  in  any  element  to  pass  out  through 
the  nose. 

BIRD  RAPTURES. 
The  sunrise  wakes  the  lark  to  sing, 

The  moonrise  wakes  the  nightingale. 
Come  darkness,  moonrise,  everything 

That  is  so  silent,  sweet  and  pale : 

Come,  so  ye  wake  the  nightingale. 
Make  haste  to  mount,  thou  wistful  moon, 

Make  haste  to  wake  the  nightingale: 
Let  silence  set  the  world  in  tune 

To  harken  to  that  worldless  tale 

Which  warbles  from  the  nightingale. 
O  herald  skylark,  stay  thy  flight 

One  moment,  for  a  nightingale 
Floods  us  with  sorrow  and  delight. 

To-morrow  thou  shalt  hoist  the  sail ; 

Leave  us  to-night  the  nightingale. 

Christina  Georgina  Rossetti. 

GENIUS. 

Far  out  at  sea  —  the  sun  was  high,  while  veerM  the  wind,  and 
flapp'd  the  sail  —  we  saw  a  snow-white  butterfly  dancing  before 
the  fitful  gale,  far  out  at  sea!  The  little  wanderer,  who  had  lost 
his  way,  of  danger  nothing  knew;  settled  awhile  upon  the  mast, 
then  flutter'd  o'er  the  waters  blue,  far  out  at  sea.  Above,  there 
gleam'd  the  boundless  sky;  beneath,  the  boundless  ocean  sheen; 
between  them  danced  the  butterfly,  the  spirit-life  of  this  vast  scene, 
far  out  at  sea.  The  tiny  soul  then  soar'd  away,  seeking  the  clouds 
on  fragile  wings,  lur'd  by  the  brighter,  purer  ray  which  hope's 
ecstatic  morning  brings,  far  out  at  sea.  Away  he  sped  with  shim- 
mering glee !  Scarce  seen  —  now  lost  —  yet  onward  borne ! 
Night  comes !  —  with  wind  and  rain  —  and  he  no  more  will  dance 
before  the  Morn,  far  out  at  sea.  He  dies  unlike  his  mates,  I  ween ; 
perhaps  not  sooner,  or  worse  cross'd ;  and  he  hath  felt,  thought, 
known,  and  seen  a  larger  life  and  hope  —  though  lost  far  out  at  sea. 

R.  H.  Home. 


166  MIND   AND    VOICE 

A  SEA  LYRIC. 

There  is  no  music  that  man  has  heard 

Like  the  voice  of  the  minstrel  sea ; 
Whose  major  and  minor  chords  are  fraught 

With  infinite  mystery.  .  .  . 

There  is  no  passion  that  man  has  sung, 
Like  the  love  of  the  deep-souled  sea, 

Whose  tide  responds  to  the  moon's  soft  light 
With  marvellous  melody.  .  .  . 

There  is  no  sorrow  that  man  has  known 
Like  the  grief  of  the  wordless  main, 

Whose  Titan  bosom  forever  throbs 
With  an  untranslated  pain  — 

For  the  sea  is  a  harp,  and  the  winds  of  God 

Play  over  His  rhythmic  breast, 
And  bear  on  the  sweep  of  their  mighty  wings 

The  song  of  a  vast  unrest. 

William  Hamilton  Hayne. 

THE  WHITE  BLOSSOM'S  OFF  THE  BOG. 

The  white  blossom 's  off  the  bog  and  the  leaves  are  off  the  trees, 
And  the  singing  birds  have  scattered  across  the  stormy  seas: 

And  oh !  't  is  winter,  wild,  wild  winter ! 
With  the  lonesome  wind  sighing  for  ever  through  the  trees. 

How  green  the  leaves  were  springing !  how  glad  the  birds  were 

singing! 
When  I  rested  in  the  meadow  with  my  head  on  Patrick's  knees ! 

And  oh!  't  was  spring-time,  sweet,  sweet  spring-time! 
With  the  daisies  all  dancing  before  in  the  breeze. 

With  the  spring  the  fresh  leaves  they''!!  laugh  upon  the  trees, 
And  the  birds  they  '11  flutter  back  with  their  songs  across  the 

seas, 
But  I  '11  never  rest  again  with  my  head  on  Patrick's  knees; 

And  for  me  't  will  be  winter,  all  the  year  winter, 
With  the  lonesome  wind  sighing  for  ever  through  the  trees. 

Alfred  Perceval  Graves. 


IV 

CO-ORDINATION    OF   DIAPHRAGM 
AND  VOCAL   BANDS 

XII.     PRIMARY  VIBRATION 

Having  considered  some  general  phases  of  vocal 
training  and  discussed  some  of  the  most  observable 
phenomena  of  the  voice,  we  are  now  prepared  to  study 
more  definitely  the  nature  of  tone  production,  and  to 
adopt  still  more  definite  exercises  for  its  development. 

The  next  step  is  more  directly  concerned  with  voice 
production,  and  it  may  seem  to  some  that  this  is  the 
proper  place  to  begin  all  our  studies,  but  several  con- 
strictions must  first  be  removed.  Hence,  co-ordination 
between  breathing  and  the  pharynx  must  be  secured 
before  we  can  secure  the  proper  co-ordination  between 
breathing  and  the  vocal  bands.  At  any  rate,  our  method 
has  led  us  first  to  note  the  characteristics  of  the  vocal 
organs  as  a  whole,  and  the  general  conditions  of  tone 
production.  We  have  observed  the  right  action  of  the 
breathing  and  the  normal  motive  power  of  the  voice, 
and  have  learned  how  to  remove  constrictions  from  the 
tone  passage. 

We  can  now  enter  upon  more  positive  study  of  the 
nature  of  voice  and  develop  what  some  will  consider 
more  fundamental,  the  initiation  of  sound  waves,  or 
what  we  will  here  term  the  primary  vibrations  of  those 
initiated  by  the  vocal  bands,  to  distinguish  them  from 
the  secondary  vibrations  or  overtones  and  the  sympa- 
thetic vibrations  which  strengthen  both  the  primary 


168  MIND   AND   VOICE 

ones  and  the  overtones,  but  which  come  from  the 
chest  chambers,  from  those  in  the  head,  and  in  fact 
from  the  whole  body.  To  understand  the  nature  of 
voice  it  is  necessary  to  consider  a  wider  aspect  of  the 
subject. 

I.   NATURE   OF   SOUND. 

When  a  drum-head  is  struck  it  is  made  to  quiver  or 
vibrate,  and  the  surrounding  air  is  also  set  a-trembling 
or  put  into  a  series  of  vibrations.  Each  particle  touching 
the  next  one  moves  that,  which  in  turn  moves  the  next, 
and  so  on,  until  the  commotion  is  carried  outward  in  a 
series  of  what  are  called  waves. 

Sound  may  be  regarded  objectively,  that  is,  as  a  mere 
series  of  sound  waves  with  a  certain  length,  amplitude 
and  shape.  We  may  also  consider  these  as  coming  in 
contact  with  the  auditory  nerve  so  that  the  sound  is 
heard.  There  are  thus  two  aspects  of  all  sound;  one, 
the  physical  phenomena  of  vibration,  and  the  other  what 
is  realized  by  the  sense  of  hearing. 

Sound  may  be  carried  through  the  atmosphere  or  any 
gas  or  through  liquids  or  solids.  We  can  put  our  ear  to  a 
railroad  iron  and  hear  a  locomotive  much  farther  away 
than  we  can  through  the  air.  A  man  under  water  will 
hear  with  great  distinctness  the  striking  of  two  bodies 
which  are  also  under  water.  When  a  sounding  body  is 
placed  in  contact  with  the  skull,  and  the  man,  though 
partially  deaf,  hears  it,  then  it  is  not  his  auditory  nerve 
that  is  at  fault  but  the  means  of  communicating  the  vibra- 
tions to  this  nerve. 

Secondary  vibrations  may  be  divided  into  "  conso- 
nance "  and  "  resonance."  If  one  end  of  a  violin  string 
be  attached  to  the  ceiling  and  the  other  to  a  weight, 
when  we  touch  the  string  we  hear  a  slight  sound;  but 
when  the  string  is  given  the  same  amount  of  tension  on 
the  violin  the  sound  is  much  louder. 


CO-ORDINATION    IN    VIBRATION  169 

The  reason  for  this  is  because  in  the  first  case  only  a 
small  amount  of  air  is  set  into  vibration,  but  in  the  latter 
a  much  larger  surface  of  air  which  vibrates  simultane- 
ously. The  parts  aside  from  the  string  are  said  to  vibrate 
in  "  consonance."  Consonance  is  the  sympathetic  vibra- 
tion of  different  objects  hi  direct  contact  with  each  other. 
In  the  violin  the  bridge  connects  the  vibration  of  the 
string  directly  with  the  consonant  body. 

In  resonance,  however,  there  is  no  contact  between 
the  sounding  body  and  that  which  increases  its  vibration. 
A  tuning  fork  for  example,  may  be  struck;  then  we  can 
hold  it  over  a  bottle  into  which  we  gradually  pour  water. 
At  a  certain  point  the  sound  will  be  greatly  augmented, 
but  as  we  pour  in  more  water  it  will  again  be  lessened. 
At  the  point  when  the  pitch  of  the  chamber  of  the  bottle 
corresponds  with  the  pitch  of  the  tuning  fork  there  will 
be  sympathetic  vibration  or  resonance.  If  the  tuning 
fork  be  held  successively  in  the  mouth  of  several  organ 
pipes  the  one  which  corresponds  in  pitch  with  the  tuning 
fork  will  be  made  to  sound. 

The  term  "  resonance,"  however,  is  used  in  a  general 
sense  as  inclusive  of  all  secondary  vibrations.  A  resonant 
instrument  or  tone  is  one  in  which  the  overtones  and  the 
sympathetic  vibrations,  whether  due  to  consonance  or 
reverberation,  are  especially  prominent. 

Air  propagates  sound  at  the  freezing  point  about  1090 
feet  per  second,  and  this  rate  increases  gradually  as  the 
temperature  rises.  The  velocity  of  sound  also  in- 
creases in  proportion  to  the  elasticity  of  the  medium. 
In  water  it  is  more  than  four  times  as  rapid  as  in  the 
air;  in  pine  wood  with  the  fibre  it  is  ten  times  quicker 
than  in  air,  and  through  iron  more  than  seventeen  times 
as  fast. 

It  is  found  that  the  human  ear  can  detect  vibrations 
that  are  as  frequent  as  twenty-four  in  a  second,  but  none 
lower  than  this;  and  if  they  exceed  thirty  or  forty  thou- 


170  MIND  AND  VOICE 

sand  per  second  they  cease  to  produce  any  sensation 
upon  the  ear.  Voice  is  sound  produced  by  the  vocal 
bands  of  living  animals,  especially  by  human  beings. 

Every  musical  instrument  demands  not  only  a  part 
or  parts  which  furnish  the  motive  power  but  an  agent  for 
the  initiation  of  vibration.  In  the  violin,  the  strings 
perform  this  function;  in  the  flute  or  pipe  organ,  the 
length  of  the  tube;  in  the  reed  organ,  the  reeds;  in  the 
human  voice  the  vocal  bands  produce  the  fundamental 
pulsation. 

Sound  is  generally  divided  into  music  and  noise.  A 
tone  is  musical  in  proportion  as  there  are  a  continuous 
series  of  regular  vibrations.  Sound  is  noise  when  pro- 
duced by  some  single  impulse,  as  an  electric  shock,  or 
some  explosion,  or  by  irregular  impulses  causing  irregu- 
lar vibrations.  These  facts  seem  meagre,  but  are  a 
summary  of  what  little  we  know  on  the  subject. 

II.  THE  VIBRATIONAL  FUNCTION  OF  THE  VOCAL  BANDS. 

What  is  the  primary  act  of  the  vocal  mechanism  in 
initiating  vibrations  fundamentally  necessary  to  tone? 

In  the  voice  box  we  have  twfl  ligaTPefl*s  meeting  in 
such  a  way  as  to  form  a  narrow  passage,  called  the 
glottis,  through  whiciL_aiiL  passjs^causisg  vibration. 
These  ligaments  are  often  called  vocal  chords  or  bands. 
They  are  neither;  but  are  two  ligaments  which  meet 
like  lips  or  pads.  They  are  protected  by  a  cartilagi- 
nous box  called  the  laryjax^,  or  the  voice._bpx,  with^ 
muscles  attaching  these  cartilages  to  each  other  and 
to  the  vocal  bands  hi  such  a  way  that  the  bands  are 
adjusted  into  a  position  for  vibration  when  a  small  cur- 
rent of  air  passes  between  them  or,  as  some  think, 
cause  this  air  stream  to  vibrate.  These  muscles  also 
change  the  length  of  the  chords  causing  change  in 
pitch.  Such  are  the  specific  functions  of  the  vocal 
bands. 


CO-ORDINATION    IN   VIBRATION  171 

We  encounter  here  what  seems  an  elemental  ques- 
tion, but  it  is  one  which  has  caused  a  great  deal  of  dis- 
cussion. Is  the  voice  a  reed  or  a  wind  instrument? 
Many  scientists,  such  as  Tyndall,  for  example,  speak  of 
the  voice  as  a  "  reed  instrument  "  as  if  it  were  a  wholly 
settled  question.  But  it  is  not.  There  are  some  French 
authorities  who  hold  that  the  voice  is  a  "  wind  instru- 
ment." This  question,  though  curious  and  interesting, 
is  of  little  practical  value  hi  training  the  voice.  It  is 
enough  to  know  that  without  this  primary  vibration, 
whether  coming  from  the  bands  or  from  the  air  current 
itself,  there  would  be  no  voice,  and  that  in  proportion  to 
the  definiteness  with  which  the  vocal  bands  discharge 
then:  function  will  the  primary  vibrations  of  the  voice  be 
normal  and  pleasant.  Other  things  being  equal,  correct 
action  of  the  vocal  bands  must  be  secured  indirectly; 
that  is  to  say,  we  must  gain  more  power  over  the  mechan- 
ism in  the  voice  box  by  controlling  the  column  of  air 
rather  than  by  directing  the  will  to  the  vocal  bands  them- 
selves.  We  can  regulate  this  column  by  the  right  action 
of  the  respiratory  muscles  and  the  vocal  bands  will 
respond.  We  discover  here  another  mysterious  co- 
ordination. While  the  two  things  must  be  done  to- 
gether, nature  provides  in  this  case  a  co-ordinate  action, 
the  will  being  .centred  upon  one  part,  and  the  other  re- 
sponding by  a  mysterious  correlation. 

All  the  parts  of  the  vocal  mechanism  when  normal 
act  sympathetically  and  by  this  principle  of  co-ordination. 
This  is  the  basis  of  the  method  which  I  have  dis- 
covered and  found  adequate  in  training  the  voice. 
These  co-ordinations  may  be  upset  from  various  causes, 
producing  stammering,  stuttering,  and  a  long  train  of 
impediments  or  faults.  When  they  are  restored  and 
rightly  developed  the  voice  is  established,  and  by  pro- 
gressively exercising  them  the  highest  possibilities  of 
the  voice  will  be  attained. 


172  MIND   AND   VOICE 

There  are  many  conditions  which  show  the  intimate 
relation  existing  between  the  vocal  bands  and  the 
diaphragm. 

In  ordinary  breathing  the  vocal  bands  move  whether 
voice  is  being  produced  or  not.  Whenever  breath  is 
taken  they  open;  when  it  is  given  out  they  approach 
each  other;  if  the  lungs  become  nearly  exhausted  they 
tend  to  close  more  forcibly.  This  shows  the  intimacy  of 
the  relationship  between  the  vocal  bands  and  breathing. 
The  additional  exercises  necessary  in  the  development 
of  normal  vibration  constitute  an  advanced  means  for 
developing  control  of  the  breath.  That  is  to  say,  by  the 
method  adopted  in  this  book,  we  begin  upon  whatever  is 
fundamental  and  proceed  in  such  a  way  that  each  suc- 
cessive exercise  adds  something  to  the  preceding,  while 
at  the  same  time  it  exercises  still  more  the  initial  step 
and  naturally  prepares  for  what  is  to  follow.  In  other 
words,  each  successive  exercise  implies  what  precedes 
and  furnishes  a  basis  for  what  follows. 

III.   PURITY   OF   TONE. 

The  characteristics  of  the  right  vibration  by  the  vocal 
bands  may  be  summarized  under  the  name  of  purity  of 
tone.  Purity  is  the  emphasis  of  the  primary  elements 
of  anything.  In  general,  it  means  unmixed.  Water  that 
is  pure  is  free  from  foreign  elements,  and  is  more  cap- 
able of  discharging  any  true  function  of  water  than  that 
which  is  impure.  Pure  gold  contains  no  alloy.  A  pure 
color  is  unmixed  with  other  colors.  Ruskin  has  called 
purity  the  symbol  of  power. 

As  anything  is  pure  in  proportion  to  the  accentuation 
of  its  fundamental  elements,  so  is  sound  pure  hi  propor- 
tion to  the  definiteness  or  regularity  of  the  vibrations. 
To  develop  purity  it  is  necessary  to  eliminate  false  vi- 
brations and  to  establish  those  primary  conditions  that 
make  for  normal  ones. 


CO-ORDINATION  IN  VIBRATION  173 


Purity  is  a  positive  quality.  Ease  and  freedom,  im- 
portant as  they  are,  are  general  characteristics.  Ease 
implies  the  elimination  of  unnecessary  effort  and  the 
normal  action  of  the  parts.  Freedom  means  absence  of 
all  constriction  and  the  emission  of  tone  through  an  open 
passage.  Purity  implies  the  elimination  of  all  huskiness, 
and  also  the  accentuation  of  the  fundamental  element  of 
tone  itself. 

All  the  steps  so  far  undertaken  have  tended  indirectly 
to  establish  purity.  They  are  necessary  before  anything 
can  be  done  toward  its  development;  for  this  quality, 
as  we  have  seen,  comprises  a  definite  accentuation  of  all 
the  primary  conditions. 

In  developing  control  of  the  breath  and  freedom  of  the 
tone  passage  we  have  met  with  certain  co-ordinations, 
one  of  which  was  necessary  to  the  opening  of  this  pas- 
sage. We  must  now  consider  another  of  these.  In 
endeavoring  to  establish  the  purity  of  tone  and  the  right 
functioning  of  the  vocal  bands  in  initiating  and  sustain- 
ing vibrations  we  discover  that  these  bands  must  be 
brought  into  indirect  response  to  the  right  retention  and 
management  of  the  breath.  We  do  not  entirely  control 
them  by  the  will.  There  is  a  mysterious  nervous  union 
of  the  diaphragm  and  the  parts  hi  the  interior  of  the 
voice  box.  A  positive  step  now  to  be  taken  in  the  de- 
velopment of  the  voice  is  to  secure  proper  sympathetic 
retention  of  the  breath  with  a  co-ordinate  response  of  the 
vocal  bands. 

This  can  only  be  brought  about  by  careful  study  and 
practice.  We  have  taken  an  important  step  when  we 
discover  that  the  sympathetic  activity  in  the  middle  of 
the  body,  —  that  is,  right  retention  of  breath,  —  not 
only  causes  the  proper  passive  and  open  conditions  in 
the  pharynx,  but  also  brings  the  vocal  bands  into 
right  relationship  for  true  vibration  in  the  production 
of  tone. 


174  MIND   AND   VOICE 

IV.   ECONOMY  OF  BREATH. 

A  careful  study  of  tone  reveals  the  fact  that  it  does  not 
require  great  labor  to  establish  normal  vibrations.  When 
there  is  too  much  effort  noise  is  the  result.  Tone  is 
pleasant  in  proportion  to  the  economy  of  the  breath  used 
to  initiate  the  vibration.  In  the  voice,  especially,  all 
huskiness  or  lack  of  purity  of  the  primary  vibrations  is 
associated  with  waste  of  breath.  Breathing  must  not 
only  be  centred  but  we  must  carefully  attend  to  the 
sympathetic  and  elastic  retention  of  the  breath. 

In  developing  this  retental  action  it  is  first  necessary 
to  become  conscious  of  the  dual  actions  of  breathing  in 
making  tone.  Of  the  breath  taken  into  the  lungs  in  pre- 
paration for  tone,  by  far  the  larger  part  is  retained  as  a 
kind  of  sustained  condition  of  activity  during  tone  pro- 
duction, while  a  small  portion  is  used  to  pass  between 
the  vocal  bands  and  initiate  the  vibration. 

In  producing  tone  the  student  can  direct  his  conscious- 
ness either  to  the  passive  conditions  resulting  from  the 
right  reserve  of  the  breath  or  to  the  small  amount  of 
breath  released.  Usually  students  think  too  much  of 
the  active  outgoing  breath  and  fail  to  realize  the  great 
importance  of  that  which  is  held  in  passive,  sympathetic 
reserve. 

Various  sensations  have  been  suggested  to  students 
to  co-ordinate  this  marvelous  complexity  in  the  action  of 
the  diaphragm.  One  teacher  in  Paris,  with  whom  I 
studied,  taught  that  during  the  making  of  tone  we  should 
have  a  sense  of  "  sinking  "  in  the  middle  of  the  body. 
Of  course  we  can  explain  this  by  the  fact  that  the 
breath  reserved  acts  in  opposition  to  that  given  up  or 
actively  controlled  in  a  kind  of  column  to  pass  between 
the  vocal  bands.  The  breath  retained  forms  the  drum; 
the  small  amount  passed  through  the  vocal  bands  is 
analagous  to  the  stick  of  the  drum  that  initiates  the 


CO-ORDINATION   IN   VIBRATION  175 

sound  and  brings  the  whole  instrument  into  vibration. 
The  full  active  chest  forms  the  bell;  the  small  amount 
given  up,  the  hammer  that  initiates  the  sound.  The 
breath  reserved  acts  as  the  violin;  the  vocal  bands  are 
the  strings  and  the  small  stream  of  expelled  breath  cor- 
responds to  the  bow. 

My  old  maestro  the  elder  Francois  Lamperti,  was 
called  a  "  shyster  "  by  one  who  did  not  understand  what 
he  meant  because  he  taught  that  in  giving  out  tone  we 
should  have  the  sensation  of  drinking. 

Lamperti  never  explained  this.  Some  people  thought 
he  meant  to  make  a  tone  as  if  taking  in  the  breath  rather 
than  giving  it  out.  Even  with  this  view  of  it  students 
were  led  to  retain  or  economize  the  breath  while  making 
tone,  especially  at  its  initiation.  In  my  own  case  I 
have  found  this  sensation  connected  not  only  with  the 
sympathetic  or  elastic  retention  of  the  breath  but  with  a 
simultaneous  feeling  of  openness  in  the  throat.  It  has 
been  far  more  helpful  to  me  than  the  sensation  of  sink- 
ing which  was  purely  local  in  the  middle  of  the  body, 
while  in  this  way  we  may  unconsciously  secure  some- 
thing of  co-ordination. 

Both  of  these  sensations  are  founded  upon  the  fact 
that  in  making  tone  much  breath  is  retained  in  the 
lungs.  In  the  teaching  of  nearly  all  of  the  great  masters 
there  has  always  been  some  step,  often  a  simple  expedi- 
ent such  as  these,  to  awaken  in  the  student  just  the  right 
action  that  will  retain  the  breath  without  cramping  it  in 
the  lungs,  but  allowing  simultaneously  with  the  retention 
an  easy  control  over  the  small  emission  which  makes 
the  tone. 

Another  of  my  teachers  taught  that  when  the  student 
made  tone  properly  he  should  feel  as  if  it  flowed  over 
the  whole  body. 

Since  I  have  become  better  acquainted  with  the  funda- 
mental principles  of  tone  production,  and  especially  after 


176  MIND   AND   VOICE 

discovering  the  co-ordination  between  the  retaining  of 
the  breath  and  the  opening  of  the  tone  passage,  I  have 
felt  that  this  was  a  realization  of  the  sense  of  sympathetic 
expansion  throughout  the  body  which  is  a  part  of  the 
preparatory  actions  in  speech.  In  fact,  it  is  the  co-ordina- 
tion of  the  emotional  condition  with  the  sympathetic  ex- 
pansion of  the  whole  body  as  well  as  the  retaining  of 
the  breath. 

A  good  singer,  if  he  will  think  of  it,  does  feel  a  sense 
of  vibration  over  the  whole  body.  This  condition  is 
established  by  the  sympathetic  diffusion  of  emotion 
which  modules  even  the  texture  of  the  muscles  of  the 
whole  body,  and,  so  to  speak,  brings  it  into  tune  with 
the  voice.  It  is  a  great  help  to  feel  this  sympathetic  ex- 
pansion of  the  body  simultaneously  with  the  sympatheti- 
cally retained  breath  and  the  opening  of  the  tone  passage. 
Anyone  can  see  that  many  of  these  so-called  and  often 
much  sneered  at  sensations  are  really  intimations  hi  the 
experience  of  great  teachers  of  the  real  fundamental 
principles  of  co-ordination.  Their  paradoxical  sugges- 
tions are  founded  upon  truths  which  have  been  dis- 
covered in  experience.  Though  they  are  one-sided  they 
have  often  aroused  the  instinct  of  co-ordination.  Possi- 
bly we  might  say  that  in  every  case  where  a  voice  has 
been  successfully  trained  they  have  developed  uncon- 
sciously the  co-ordinations  bringing  the  parts  into 
sympathetic  unity,  thus  establishing  right  conditions  for 
tone. 

The  force  used  hi  establishing  the  retental  conditions 
in  tone  production  always  transcends  the  active  expen- 
diture of  energy.  The  drum  must  be  larger  than  the 
stick,  the  bell  than  its  clapper,  the  violin  than  the  bow. 

In  the  development  of  proper  vibration,  accordingly, 
we  must  not  only  economize  the  breath  passed  through 
the  vocal  bands,  but  increase  the  amount  retained.  We 
must  also  increase  and  extend  the  delicacy  and  harmoni- 


CO-ORDINATION    IN   VIBRATION  177 

ous  expansion  causing  this  retention  through  the  whole 
diaphragm  and  respiratory  muscles.  In  proportion  as 
the  passive  conditions  are  free,  sympathetic,  and  har- 
monious, transcending  the  expenditure  for  initiating  the 
vibration,  will  the  tone  be  pure  and  resonant. 

This  sympathetic  retention  of  breath  in  the  lungs 
during  the  emission  of  tone  is  the  most  conscious  and 
directly  voluntary  element.  It  initiates  the  vibratory 
condition,  and  hence  demands  first  attention  hi  develop- 
ing primary  vibrations.  The  retention  must  first  be  easy 
and  harmonious;  its  increase  must  be  developed. 

There  are  many  reasons  for  giving  attention  to  the 
action  of  the  muscles  in  reserving  breath  rather  than  to 
the  actions  or  parts  which  are  concerned  in  expelling  it. 

For  example,  it  is  by  reserving  breath  that  the  tone 
passage  is  opened.  Again,  the  retention  of  breath  es- 
tablishes conditions  favorable  to  resonance.  Again,  it 
is  the  reserving  of  a  greater  amount  of  breath  that  is 
the  means  by  which  the  tone  is  supported,  giving  strength 
and  power  to  the  voice.  The  economy  of  breath  depends 
upon  its  reserve.  It  is  this  which  makes  the  tone  purer 
and  brings  it  under  control.  The  chief  co-ordinations 
are  associated  with  the  retention  of  breath.  It  is  through 
the  right  retention  of  the  breath  that  the  vocal  bands 
are  properly  adjusted  and  made  to  discharge  their  right 
function. 

We  meet  here  with  certain  facts  needing  careful  study. 
We  can  make  tone  with  almost  any  amount  of  breath 
in  the  lungs.  Many  persons  speak  with  simply  the 
average  amount  of  breath  in  the  lungs.  In  fact,  as  they 
must  stop  life  breathing  to  produce  tone  they  necessarily 
speak  with  less  breath  than  usual.  This  is  the  cause  of 
weariness  and  many  evils.  Persons  in  society,  teachers, 
and  others  who  try  to  speak  gently  and  tenderly  are 
often  nervous  and  exhausted  after  speaking  on  account 
of  lack  of  reserved  breath. 


MIND   AND   VOICE 

The  right  time  for  producing  good  tone  is  with  the 
reserved  amount  of  air  above  the  normal.  By  practice 
the  amount  of  this  retained  breath  can  be  greatly  in- 
creased. One  step  is  to  stimulate  and  exercise  con- 
sciously the  inspiratory  muscles. 

One  exercise  for  the  education  of  these  muscles  is 
the  simple  prolonging  of  tone.  In  the  practice  of  this  the 
student  must  be  very  careful  not  to  prolong  his  tone 
beyond  the  point  of  absolute  comfort.  It  is  always 
injurious  to  make  tone  with  the  breath  below  the  normal. 
The  prolonging  of  tone  must  be  especially  used  to  detect 
any  such  practice,  that  is,  the  prolonging  of  tone  can 
test  not  only  the  amount  of  breath  in  the  lungs  but 
especially  its  economy  or  the  ability  of  the  student  to 
make  tone  between  a  full  breath  and  the  point  when  the 
breath  passes  below  the  point  of  ease. 

A  special  exercise  which  I  have  found  very  helpful  is 
Exercise  57.  to  take  some  simple,  flowing  passage,  such 
toeUSatory  as  the  following,  and  taking  a  full  breath, 
Muscles.  gjye  ^  Up0n  one  pitch  of  an  instrument  in  a 
continuous  stream.  Be  sure  to  articulate  every  word 
carefully,  to  preserve  the  proper  quantity  of  successive 
syllables,  and  to  avoid  all  waste  of  breath,  especially 
in  consonants  where  the  tendency  will  be  greatest.  This 
exercise  will  be  found  an  excellent  one  not  only  for  the 
education  of  these  muscles  but  for  the  development  of 
articulation. 

THE  FLIGHT  OF  TIME. 

Faintly  flow,  thou  falling  river, 

Like  a  dream  that  dies  away; 
Down  to  ocean  gliding  ever, 

Keep  thy  calm  unruffled  way: 
Time,  with  such  a  silent  motion, 

Floats  along  on  wings  of  air, 
To  Eternity's  dark  ocean, 

Burying  all  its  treasures  there. 


CO-ORDINATION   IN    VIBRATION  179 

Roses  bloom,  and  then  they  wither, 
Cheeks  are  bright,  then  fade  and  die, 

Shapes  of  light  are  wafted  hither, 
Then,  like  visions  hurry  by: 

Quick  as  clouds  at  evening  driven 
O'er  the  many  colored  west, 

Years  are  bearing  us  to  heaven, 

Home  of  happiness  and  rest. 

J.  G.  Percival. 

Give  in  simple  recitative,  upon  one  key,  several 
delicate  lines.  The  advantage  of  this  recitative  over 
prolonging  a  vowel  is  that  we  find,  on  account  of  the 
consonants  in  the  words,  a  greater  tendency  to  waste 
breath.  By  timing  one's  self,  and  giving  the  words  with 
true  vocal  quantity  and  speech  touch,  we  secure  a  capital 
exercise  for  the  economy  of  breath  and  also  for  quantity 
and  true  speech  vibration. 

Another  exercise  is  found  in  the  crescendo  and  dimin- 
uendo. This  has  been  used  for  years  for  the  control 
of  the  breath,  and  it  aids  not  only  the  pressure  of  the 
breath  but  in  securing  the  modulation  of  control  over 
the  voice. 

Begin  a  tone  as  delicately  as  possible  with  the  least 
expenditure  of  force,  and  gradually  increase 
its  volume,  reserving  and  economizing  the 
breath  all  the  time,  but  by  degrees  allowing 
more  active  tension  and  volume.  The  exercise  may 
also  be  practiced  by  slowly  increasing,  then  gradually 
diminishing,  the  tone.  In  the  diminuendo  there  will  be 
a  great  temptation  to  collapse.  Mastery  of  the  exercise 
requires  perseverance.  It  is  a  wonderful  help  to  secure 
control  of  the  motive  power.  The  aim  should  not  be  to 
make  a  loud  tone  but  to  begin  with  the  most  delicate 
one,  never  increasing  its  volume  beyond  about  one- 
half  of  the  possibility,  the  primary  object  being  to  secure 
control  of  the  delicate  vibration  and  of  the  sympathetic 
retention  and  management  of  the  breath. 


l8o  MIND   AND   VOICE 

The  importance  of  the  breath  is  seen  not  only  in  the 
fact  that  activity  in  the  respiratory  mechanism  is  neces- 
sary to  secure  right  passivity  in  the  throat,  but  that  there 
is  also  a  co-ordination  between  right  retention  of  the 
breath  and  right  vibration  of  the  vocal  bands.  Without 
properly  economizing  and  retaining  breath  pure  vibration 
in  the  vocal  bands  is  impossible. 

XIII.     THE  INITIATION   OF  VIBRATION 

The  starting  of  the  vibration  is  important  in  all  musical 
instruments.  There  is  always,  for  example,  more  or 
less  noise  associated  with  the  beginning  of  tone.  The 
more  skillful  the  player  the  more  delicate  is  the  "  touch." 
Note  the  violin,  for  example;  a  good  player  awakens 
vibration  instantly.  There  is  hardly  any  suggestion  of 
the  stroke.  The  same  is  true  of  a  performer  on  the 
piano.  With  all  instruments,  however,  there  is  a  certain 
click  or  noise  at  the  initiation  of  the  vibration,  which  is 
more  or  less  foreign  to  the  sound;  even  an  organ  pipe 
must  have  "  tune  to  breathe."  One  charm  of  the  seolian 
harp  consists  in  the  fact  that  the  vibrations  begin  with 
regularity  at  once.  There  is  no  initiatory  stroke  or 
noise :  the  music  simply  begins. 

A  musical  instrument  has  been  invented  called  the 
choralcello,  in  which  the  strings  of  the  piano  are  made 
to  vibrate  by  electricity  without  any  actual  contact  of 
the  hammer  or  any  foreign  substance.  The  effect  is 
astonishing.  The  tone  is  perfectly  pure  at  the  start. 
It  seems  impossible  that  such  tones  could  be  brought 
from  the  strings  of  a  piano.  The  latter  may  be  played 
upon  in  the  ordinary  way  and  at  the  same  time  be  fur- 
nishing the  choralcello  notes.  The  sound  of  this  in- 
strument is  more  like  the  pipe  organ  than  that  of  any 
other  instrument,  but  it  surpasses  even  this  in  purity 
and  richness  of  vibration. 


CO-ORDINATION    IN    VIBRATION  l8l 

The  inventor  thinks  that  his  instrument  makes  a 
synthetic  tone,  that  is,  one  which  is  as  rich  in  overtones 
as  is  possible;  but  this  is  to  be  doubted.  He  forgets 
that  there  are  practically  no  limits  in  shaping  the  sound 
waves.  Doubtless,  too,  he  overlooks  the  sympathetic 
vibrations  as  well  as  the  direct  production  of  the  over- 
tones. The  combination  of  many  instruments  together 
brings  a  polyphonous  effect  to  which  there  is  hardly  any 
limit.  The  instrument,  however,  is  marvelous,  and 
especially  interesting  to  all  students  of  sound. 

The  centre  of  all  difficulties  in  securing  the  primary 
conditions  of  voice  and  establishing  right  vibrations  and 
all  normal  qualities  is  found  at  the  beginning  of  the  tone, 
for  it  is  here  that  a  tone  has  the  poorest  vibration.  At 
this  point  also  there  is  greater  liability  to  slight  the  pre- 
paratory actions  or  conditions. 

Accordingly,  the  first  point  for  the  study  and  develop- 
ment of  the  vibrations  of  the  voice  must  concern  the 
right  initiation  of  tone.  The  vocal  bands  meet  in  oppo- 
sition, and  are  set  in  vibration  by  a  small  amount  of 
breath  passing  between  them. 

In  starting  tone  we  may  distinguish  three  different 
actions.  First,  the  vocal  bands  may  come  together  after 
the  breath  is  started.  This  action  wastes  the  breath 
and  makes  considerable  noise.  It  is  an  almost  universal 
fault.  Most  people  when  they  start  a  tone,  though  they 
may  have  the  lungs  full  of  breath,  lose  so  much  at  the 
initiation  that  they  lack  any  vocal  power.  Second,  the 
vocal  bands  may  come  together  and  completely  shut 
before  the  breath  starts,  the  breath  being  thrown 
against  them  with  such  force  that  they  are  separated 
into  their  tone  positions.  This  makes  a  click  in  the 
throat  which  anyone  can  hear  by  simply  holding  his 
breath  and  letting  it  go  quickly,  or  making  tone  in  the 
same  way.  The  third  method  brings  the  vocal  bands 
together  at  the  exact  instant  when  the  breath  column 


182  MIND   AND    VOICE 

starts.  We  see  at  once  that  the  last  is  the  only  one  that 
acts  in  accordance  with  the  principle  of  co-ordination. 

The  first  is  the  common  fault;  the  second  is  the  arti- 
ficial condition  introduced  for  the  correction  of  this. 

Rush  and  many  since  his  day  have  contended  for 
the  "shock  of  the  glottis";  but  it  is  unpleasant  and 
makes  a  noise.  This  is  not  the  worst,  for  it  has  irritated 
many  delicate  throats.  It  has  never  been  adopted  by 
any  musician  except  Garcia  himself,  who  invented  it. 
No  one  can  sing  even  a  staccato  passage  with  this  action. 
That  which  more  than  anything  else  shows  us  the  error 
of  this  method  is  the  principle  of  co-ordination.  It  is 
as  much  a  fault  for  the  vocal  bands  to  come  together 
before  the  start  of.  the  tone  as  to  be  adjusted  too  slowly 
or  after  the  initiation  of  vibration. 

With  the  mastery  of  this  co-ordinate  initiation  of  tone 
the  voice  at  once  begins  to  improve;  the  most  delicate 
throat  is  never  irritated.  Innumerable  arguments  can  be 
brought  forward  to  prove  that  it  is  in  accordance  with 
nature's  intention;  that  it  is  the  only  musical  method 
of  initiating  tone.  It  meets  all  the  requirements  of  com- 
monsense  as  well  as  the  scientific  principles  of  the  co- 
ordinate conditions  found  in  the  study  of  the  voice. 

This  action,  accordingly,  is  the  fundamental  one  to  be 
developed  in  voice  training.  The  right  action  of  the 
vocal  bands  is  necessarily  connected  with  that  of  the 
breath.  We  find  here  a  new  co-ordination,  elastic  con- 
trol or  retention  or  response  of  the  breath  in  the  middle 
of  the  body  and  the  simultaneous  action  of  the  vocal 
bands. 

The  false  start,  the  so-called  "  shock  of  the  glottis," 
will  be  a  hindrance  rather  than  a  help.  The  only  good 
that  can  result  from  it  is  that  students  often  find  the  true 
action  at  the  initiation  of  the  tone  unconsciously  or  in- 
voluntarily; but  the  direct  effect  of  the  exercise  in 
nearly  all  cases  is  injurious. 


CO-ORDINATION    IN    VIBRATION  183 

The  problem  of  the  training  of  the  voice,  whether 
for  speech  or  for  song,  must  be  to  make  the  tone  less 
noisy  and  more  pure,  that  is,  to  make  the  vibrations 
regular,  without  jerks  or  angles,  but  sympathetically 
free. 

As  in  all  musical  instruments,  noise  is  especially  mani- 
fest in  the  voice  at  the  initiation  of  tone.  If  the  vibra- 
tion can  be  started  with  exactly  the  same  amount  of 
force,  without  chaotic  movements,  constrictions,  or  un- 
necessary jerks  the  tone  will  be  purer  and  more  musical, 
consequently  more  pleasing  to  the  ear  and  more  capable 
of  being  modulated  by  thought  and  feeling.  To  those 
who  regard  music  as  the  result  of  a  succession  of  sound 
waves  of  the  same  length,  all  speech  is  noise;  but,  as 
a  matter  of  fact,  it  may  be  musical  or  noisy.  A  sharper 
distinction  must  be  found. 

A  musical  note,  —  that  is,  a  tone  resulting  from  a 
succession  of  vibrations  of  exactly  the  same  length,  - 
will,  as  a  rule,  be  more  regular  than  an  inflexion  or  a 
tone  in  which  the  length  of  the  sound  waves  is  continu- 
ally changing.  Even  an  inflexion,  however,  may  change 
the  sound  waves  by  regular  gradation,  and  the  pleasure 
of  a  charming  voice  in  speech  consists  hi  the  absence 
of  noise,  in  the  regularity  of  the  vibrations,  and  the 
regularity  in  the  changes  of  the  length  of  the  sound 
waves. 

What  exercise  can  be  adopted  that  will  best  establish 
and  develop  this  co-ordination? 

If  the  principles  already  explained  are  true  then  it 
would  seem  that  there  should  be  some  exercise  just  at 
the  initiation  of  tone.  Garcia  recognized  the  points  of 
weakness  in  tone,  but  he  did  not  arrange  a  true  exercise 
to  correct  the  waste  of  breath  at  the  beginning  of  the 
tone  in  his  "  shock  of  the  glottis."  No  true  teacher  has 
accepted  it. 


184  MIND    AND   VOICE 

I.   INITIATION   OF   TONE. 

The  best  method  I  have  found  for  the  initiation  of 
Exercise  59  vibration,  especially  in  song,  was  the  exer- 
initiation  of  cise  adopted  by  the  elder  Lamperti,  "  starting 
tone."  He  always  used  the  syllable  "  lah." 
He  gave  few  explanations,  except  that  the  student  should 
stand  upon  the  forward  foot,  and  with  a  smile  upon  his 
face  should  make  a  short  initiation  of  the  tone  and  stop. 

He  depended  chiefly  upon  what  has  already  been 
explained  (p.  175)  as  the  "  sensation  of  drinking."  This 
must  not  be  accepted  literally,  either  as  the  coolness  of 
the  throat  in  taking  water  or  making  tone  by  breathing 
in  the  wrong  way.  It  is  a  paradoxical  statement  which 
endeavors  to  lead  the  student  by  thinking  of  these  sen- 
sations to  retain  the  breath  sympathetically,  and  at  the 
same  time  to  open  the  throat.  The  sensation  in  some 
way  enables  him,  even  after  months  of  work,  elastically 
to  retain  the  breath  while  at  the  same  time  allowing  a 
small  portion  actively  to  pass  out  between  the  vocal 
bands  establishing  the  tone. 

When  this  start  is  given  properly  there  is  no  click  in 
the  glottis.  The  tone  begins  at  once,  almost  like  the 
aeolian  harp,  without  noise,  and  the  conditions  are  estab- 
lished immediately  before  the  tone. 

The  student  who  works  upon  this  exercise  will  dis- 
cover that  he  cannot  inhale  air  and  stop  a  while,  retain- 
ing it,  and  then  start  the  tone.  He  must  establish 
conditions  immediately  before  making  tone.  The  tone 
is  a  kind  of  recoil  of  the  breath,  a  certain  reflex  action 
immediately  succeeding  the  vocal  conditions.  Strange 
as  it  may  seem,  the  conditions  of  voice  cannot  be  held 
properly  except  while  we  are  producing  tone.  The 
student  must  not  try  to  do  it,  because  when  we  are  mak- 
ing tone  we  are  interfering  with  life  breathing,  and  this 
is  practically  the  only  interference  with  this  that  is  per- 


CO-ORDINATION   IN   VIBRATION  185 

mitted.  We  are  so  constituted  that  when  we  are  not 
making  tone  the  life  conditions  immediately  assert 
themselves  and  must  do  so;  sustain  tone  conditions 
without  producing  voice  is  injurious  and  fights  against 
life  breathing.  The  taking  of  breath  for  tone  is  a  part 
of  the  tone  as  much  as  the  lifting  of  a  hammer  is  part  of 
the  stroke.  Tone  cannot  be  made  well  without  the  pre- 
liminary sympathetic  expansion  and  reception  of  extra 
breath  which  establish  the  conditions,  and  the  immedi- 
ate beginning  of  tone.  Right  preparatory  actions  are 
fundamentally  necessary  in  establishing  ease  and  power 
in  the  use  of  the  voice. 

Lamperti  thought  the  letter  "  1 "  before  "  ah  "  helped 
by  giving  a  liquid  and  sympathetic  consonant  action  in 
the  mouth  simultaneously  with  the  action  of  the  vocal 
bands,  that  the  limpness  of  the  tongue  in  a  very  open 
"  1 "  aided  in  some  way  the  conditions  for  voice. 

Many  of  his  pupils,  however,  have  used  "ah  "  alone, 
bringing  the  consciousness  directly  to  bear  upon  the 
simultaneous  action  of  breath  and  the  vocal  bands. 

I  myself  have  always  secured  better  and  quicker  re- 
sults without  the  "  1,"  except  in  cases  where  there  had 
been  a  great  deal  of  constriction  and  practice  of  the  false 
"  shock  of  the  glottis,"  when  the  letter  "  1 "  seemed  to 
aid  in  removing  the  cramp. 

The  principle  involved  is  more  important  than  the 
syllable.  Some  students  can  make  one  vowel  better 
than  another,  and  even  some  consonants  better  than 
"  1 " ;  but  the  principle  is  the  same.  What  is  needed  is 
a  sympathetic  co-ordination  of  the  right  activity  in  the 
middle  of  the  body  with  the  bringing  of  the  vocal  bands 
into  position. 

The  vocal  bands,  it  must  be  noted,  are  not  brought 
together  and  then  separated,  as  was  taught  by  believers 
in  the  "  shock  of  the  glottis."  Their  true  actions  in  pro- 
ducing tone  come  directly  from  the  reposeful  condition 


186  MIND   AND   VOICE 

into  position.  These  bands  should  be  in  perfect  repose 
until  the  instant  they  come  into  position  for  vibration. 
If  made  to  close  the  passage  completely  only  noise  can 
result.  The  action  must  be  free,  spontaneous  and  easy. 
From  the  first  there  must  be  an  elimination  of  all  muscu- 
lar action,  of  all  clicks  and  noise.  In  accordance  with 
the  principle  governing  the  arrangement  of  exercises,  we 
find  the  leading  ones,  or  those  which  accentuate  the 
fundamental  principles,  always  furnish  practice  for  all 
preceding  steps.  Accordingly,  in  the  practice  of  initiation 
of  tone  the  relaxation  of  the  whole  pharynx  must  also 
be  observed.  Some  teachers  may  prefer  to  begin  with 
initiation  of  tone  and  use  practically  the  same  exercises 
for  all  the  successive  steps.  Certainly  this  should  be 
done  on  review. 

We  come  also  to  another  additional  step,  the  beginning 
Exercises  60  of  work  in  articulation.  After  mastering 
initiation  of  "  aV  the  mother  vowel,  other  vowels  should 
m'  be  practiced  also,  and  this  forms  a  second 
phase  of  initiation  of  tone.  By  keeping  all  the  vowels 
large  and  open,  and  the  whole  tone  passage  free,  and 
introducing  "  1,"  "  v,"  "  th,"  or  other  continuous  voice 
consonant,  being  sure  that  the  whole  pharynx  and  back 
of  the  tongue  are  relaxed,  we  add  to  the  primary  vibra- 
tion a  third  phase  which  lays  the  foundation  for  the  right 
action  of  the  organs  in  articulation,  as  well  as  furnishing 
an  advanced  step  in  controlling  the  breath  and  develop- 
ing the  openness  of  the  tone  passage.  The  co-ordina- 
tions, though  they  can  be  observed  separately,  are  all 
practically  one  deep  correlation. 

It  may  be  well  to  state  some  of  the  chief  faults  observ- 
able in  starting  tone.  A  tone  may  be  started  with  a  drag, 
a  push,  a  cramp,  or  a  jerk. 

The  greatest  difficulty  is  the  removal  of  unnecessary 
action.  There  must  be  no  labor.  Tone  is  seemingly 
started  with  no  additional  force,  with  the  recoil  of  that 


CO-ORDINATION   IN  VIBRATION  187 

used  in  taking  breath.  There  must  be  no  hesitation, 
no  stopping.  The  breath  seems  to  act  almost  as  a 
rubber  or  elastic  ball  rebounds  when  dropped  upon 
the  floor.  The  tone  seems  to  be  made  with  almost 
a  rebound  of  the  breath.  Only  in  this  way  will  the 
vocal  bands  be  brought  into  co-ordination,  and  a  relaxed 
normal  condition  be  preserved  in  the  tone  passage. 
Where  it  cannot  be  obtained  on  account  of  the  student's 
carelessness,  indifference,  or  muscular  constriction 
little  improvement  can  be  made  in  the  voice,  but  where 
it  is  secured  improvement  begins  at  once. 

The  first  effect  of  the  mastery  of  this  simple  but 
fundamental  exercise,  which  will  be  overlooked  by 
ninety-nine  out  of  every  hundred  students,  will  be 
economy  of  the  power  to  reserve  breath.  Breath  will 
not  be  wasted  at  the  initiation  of  tone,  as  is  usually  the 
case,  but  sympathetically  and  easily  retained.  It  is 
probably  the  best  exercise  for  the  development  of  the 
power  to  speak  or  sing  with  a  full  chest.  Many  singers 
and  speakers  take  plenty  of  breath,  but  lose  it  at  the 
instant  of  the  initiation  of  tone  from  lack  of  true  co- 
ordination between  the  vocal  bands  and  the  diaphragm. 

We  may  also  improve  the  continental  action  of  the 
lungs  —  that  is,  their  power  to  contain  more  air  - —  by 
establishing  the  elasticity  of  the  whole  thorax.  The 
inspiratory  muscles  can  be  strengthened  and  the  capacity 
of  the  lungs  to  take  in  air  seemingly  developed. 

The  retental  action  of  the  respiratory  mechanism, 
however,  is  more  important;  for  it  is  this  staying  of  the 
tension  of  these  muscles  for  the  sympathetic  and  easy 
retaining  of  the  breath  in  the  lungs  at  the  start  of  the 
tone  that  establishes  and  develops  vocal  power. 

Let  the  teacher  carefully  adopt  expedients  to  secure 
a  natural  beginning  of  a  tone  with  the  ease  of  conversa- 
tion. The  increase  of  the  amount  of  breath  should  be 
easily  and  gradually  attained,  and  all  actions  should  be 


188  MIND   AND   VOICE 

sympathetic  and  elastic.  The  opening  of  the  tone  pas- 
sage must  be  spontaneous.  The  instructor  should  be 
watchful  that  the  student  has  no  constriction  or  strain. 

Starting  tone  is  the  most  technical  and  fundamental 
exercise  in  this  book,  and  should  be  made  the  central 
point  in  every  successive  step  taken.  However  many 
other  exercises  are  introduced,  from  the  technical  point 
of  view  they  should  radiate  from  the  right  initiation  of 
the  tone  just  as  all  psychic  exercises  should  more  or 
less  radiate  from  the  attention  or  the  reception  of  an 
impression  as  is  the  exclamation. 

The  starting  of  tone  may  seem  ridiculously  simple, 
but  this  is  always  true  of  the  best  exercises.  It  is  the 
accentuation  of  the  most  fundamental  action  possible 
in  tone  production,  but  its  very  simplicity  makes  it  the 
more  difficult.  To  master  it  requires  long  and  patient 
practice,  but  he  who  perseveres  will  reap  a  rich  reward. 

Lamperti  practiced  the  exercise  with  five  short "  starts" 
then  sustaining  the  tone  as  long  as  possible.  He 
contended  that  the  tone  should  be  prolonged  at  least 
eighteen  seconds.  Anything  below  this  indicated  some 
abnormal  condition  or  weakness.  The  student  might 
go  above  that  but  should  not  strain  too  much. 

This  prolongation  of  tone  is  simply  the  sustaining  of 
conditions  established  in  the  start.  It,  however,  tests 
these  as  well  as  sustains  them.  If  we  are  unable  to  pro- 
long tone,  we  may  then  rest  assured  that  the  conditions 
were  not  effectively  established  at  the  initiation.  If  at 
the  outset  we  have  taken  an  unusual  supply  of  breath  and 
established  ease,  repose,  and  passive  openness  of  the 
tone  passage,  then  prolongation  is  very  simple  and  means 
only  the  sustaining  of  the  conditions,  but  often  there  is 
a  collapse  of  conditions  at  the  very  beginning.  This  fre- 
quent fault,  with  many  others,  may  be  tested  by  prolong- 
ing the  tone. 

Sustaining  a  tone  especially  tests  the  economy  of 


CO-ORDINATION   IN   VIBRATION  189 

breath.  Voice  should  be  prolonged  only  until  the  breath 
passes  back  to  the  normal  condition;  to  make  tone  with 
less  breath  than  the  average  is  positively  injurious.  To 
make  tone  after  this  requires  a  compression  of  the  lungs 
by  action  of  the  expiratory  muscles  which  can  only  be 
fettering  to  vocal  and  vital  conditions. 

II.   INITIATION   IN   SPEECH. 

Lamperti  regarded  the  start  as  belonging  to  song,  but 
it  can  also  be  applied  directly  to  speaking.  In  fact,  I 
have  found  it  easier  to  secure  at  first  a  good  initiation 
from  most  students  by  an  inflexion  with  the  right  sym- 
pathetic retention  of  breath  and  openness  of  the  tone 
passage  than  by  a  sustained  tone.  An  inflexion  is  normal 
to  all  for  it  is  continually  used  in  speech,  and  is  an  easy 
method  of  studying  the  simplicity  and  ease  of  conver- 
sation and  applying  these  in  the  practice  of  exercises. 

Take  a  simple  breath  and  give  an  easy,  natural,  and 
steady  inflexion  with  a  decided  initiation.  Exercise62 
Be  sure  that  the  tone  is  not  pushed,  nor 
dragged,  nor  in  any  way  constricted,  but 
that  the  inflexion  is  the  result  of  the  elastic  action  of 
the  diaphragm  and  the  vocal  bands.  Be  sure  also  that 
the  inflexion  does  not  drag  but  that  the  force  or  ictus 
is  at  its  very  beginning. 

After  rising  inflexions  are  practiced  falling  ones 
should  be  mastered.  In  each  case  they  should  be  as 
straight  and  easy  and  abrupt  as  possible. 

Teachers  should  adopt  expedients  of  various  kinds  to 
secure  a  simple  and  natural  initiation  of  tone  with  all 
the  ease  of  conversation.  In  the  inflexion  all  the  con- 
ditions of  the  start  can  be  applied  and  labored  conditions 
readily  detected.  All  constrictions  can  be  easily  realized. 
There  are  faults,  however,  in  the  practice  of  inflexions, 
such  as  carelessness  and  a  failure  to  accentuate  condi- 
tions. Let  the  student  be  sure  in  starting  an  inflexion 


IQO  MIND    AND    VOICE 

to  retain  the  breath  sympathetically,  to  open  the  tone 
passage  freely,  and  allow  no  constriction  whatever,  but 
use  a  good  rising  or  falling  inflexion  in  different  degrees 
of  earnestness,  sometimes  speaking  it  as  if  to  a  distance, 
at  other  times  with  real  gentleness. 

Let  the  student  study  the  conditions  of  ease  of  his 
ordinary  talking,  note  the  primary  element  of  this,  and 
increase  the  conditions.  At  any  rate,  this  is  necessary 
hi  the  development  of  the  voice  hi  speaking.  Many 
teachers  of  singing  slight  the  importance  of  speech.  I 
said  to  one  of  my  instructors,  an  illustrious  man  who 
gave  me  this  lesson  and  told  me  to  sing  as  I  talked, 
"  That  is  all  right  if  you  only  speak  right."  He  replied: 
"  Speaking  is  nothing;  the  great  difficulty  in  using  the 
voice  is  to  be  able  to  sing."  Teachers  frequently 
encounter  a  tendency  to  start  tone  with  too  much  labor, 
and  it  is  necessary  to  correct  this  or  to  prevent  it  at 
the  outset.  In  beginning  lessons  hi  singing  many  of 
the  best  teachers  make  the  pupils  speak.  One  leading 
teacher  always  requires  the  reading  of  the  twenty-third 
Psalm ;  another  the  rendering  of  some  simple  poem.  A 
single  line  is  then  taken  and  repeated  on  a  distinct  pitch 
as  easily  as  possible.  Students  are  likely  to  constrict 
more  in  singing  •  than  in  speaking.  By  this  method 
they  are  enabled  to  realize  the  ease  of  conversation 
and  carry  it  into  singing. 

Now,  if  this  fact  is  recognized,  why  not  use  inflexions 
of  the  primary  elements  of  speaking  as  a  definite  exer- 
cise in  starting  tone?  In  my  opinion,  it  is  most  helpful 
to  start  tone  with  inflexions.  Even  the  student  of  song 
may  secure  assistance  from  such  an  exercise.  Labored 
conditions  can  be  easily  removed. 

The  dangers  in  practicing  inflexions  as  "  starts  "  are 
carelessness  and  failure  to  accentuate  retention  of 
breath  and  openness  of  the  tone  passage.  The  tendency 
of  song,  on  the  contrary,  is  to  use  too  much  effort.  In 


CO-ORDINATION   IN   VIBRATION  IQI 

all  cases,  accordingly,  both  inflexions  and  prolonged  or 
definite  pitches  of  song  should  be  used  in  starting  tone, 
as  they  naturally  complement  each  other. 

Each  art  should  be  compared  with  another.  Com- 
parison of  the  art  of  song  with  that  of  speech  is  most 
helpful.  Speakers,  readers,  and  dramatic  artists,  or 
any  who  are  trying  to  develop  a  speaking  voice,  should 
give  some  attention  to  the  actions  of  the  voice  in 
singing. 

The  faults  in  speech  and  song  are  different.  We  have 
spoken  more,  hence  we  are  apt  to  speak  better,  but 
song  accentuates  the  singing  tones  and  especially  em- 
phasizes purity  of  vibration.  In  speech  there  may  be 
greater  instantaneous  responsiveness,  greater  natural- 
ness hi  the  use  of  the  breath,  a  truer  release  or  co- 
ordination of  voice  breathing  with  life  breathing  may  be 
developed.  In  singing  the  speaker  may  develop  greater 
power  of  retaining  breath,  of  sustaining  conditions,  and 
may  secure  a  sense  of  greater  vibration,  both  primary 
and  secondary. 

The  application  of  the  results  gained  from  the  practice 
of  the  "  starts  "  is  very  important.  All  the  steps  so  far 
taken  should  be  reviewed  for  the  mastery  of  the  initiation 
of  tone,  on  account  of  the  fact  that  -  this  is  the  most 
fundamental  of  all  exercises. 

Specific  applications  of  the  results  gained  from  the 
practice  of  initiation  of  tone  should  also  be  made  with 
exclamations  and  single  words  from  poems  given  with 
all  the  conditions  of  the  starts  yet  with  the  spirit  of  the 
poem  in  which  they  are  found.  The  mechanical  tendency 
in  the  mastery  of  any  exercise  is  thus  eliminated. 

Take,  for  example,  the  single  word  "  O  "  from  the 
following,  and  endeavor  to  give  the  joy,  ad-  , 

,  ,  Exercise  63. 

miration  of  nature,  or  the  spirit  of  the  whole  initiation  of 

passage  in  this  one  word.    Repeat  this  as 

intensely  as  possible  many  times  until  the  conditions 


I92  MIND   AND   VOICE 

of  voice,  especially  the  reserve  of  breath  through  con- 
ditions associated  with  starting  tone,  are  established. 
Then  render  the  whole  as  adequately  as  possible,  em- 
phasizing these  conditions,  especially  their  establish- 
ment at  the  beginning  of  phrases. 

THE  COMMON  WEALTH. 

O  voices  of  the  sea  and  land, 
How  sweet  upon  my  ear  you  fall ! 
The  curlew's  cry,  the  heron's  call, 
The  grey  gull's  chatter  on  the  strand, 
The  robin  on  the  mossy  wall, 
The  coal-tit  almost  at  my  hand  — 
How  I  thank  Heaven  for  you  all ! 

O  wonder  of  the  hills  and  sky, 
How  dear  your  beauty  to  my  sight! 
The  wintry  moon,  the  sea's  delight, 
The  ruddy  moorland  far  and  high, 
The  pendant  larch's  silver  white, 
The  golden  wind-blown  leaves  that  lie  — 
How  I  thank  God  for  all  this  light! 

Lawrence  Alma  Tadema. 


XIV.     FEELING  AND   VIBRATION 

The  fact  that  normal  emotions  cause  normal  qualities 
of  voice  must  be  referred  to  again  and  again.  The  very 
establishment  of  vibration  is  so  closely  connected  with 
the  sympathetic  nervous  system  that  a  mechanical 
mastery  of  the  conditions  of  tone  at  the  point  of  initia- 
tion is  hardly  possible  without  a  study  of  the  effect  of 
feeling.  Normal  emotions  make  the  vibrations  more 
regular,  by  economizing  the  breath,  increasing  the  har- 
mony and  sympathy  of  its  retention.  In  fact,  such  f eelings 
stimulate  all  the  conditions  favorable  to  good  tone. 

Some  have  improved  their  voices  hi  various  directions 
by  the  simple  practice  of  lyrics.  Here  is  a  step  so  simple 
and  helpful  to  such  a  great  variety  of  needs  that  it  is 


CO-ORDINATION   IN    VIBRATION  IQ3 

strange  how  frequently  it  is  neglected.  Lyric  poems 
full  of  joy,  admiration  of  nature  and  sympathy  with  human 
life  improve  the  imagination,  stimulate  the  vital  forces, 
awaken  more  normal  views  of  life  and,  last  of  all,  tend 
to  establish  normal  conditions  of  voice. 

I.   VOCAL   EFFECTS  OF  JOY. 

Joy  causes  expansion  of  the  whole  body,  stimulates  the 
circulation  and  causes  a  greater  retention  of  breath. 

Since  the  easy,  sympathetic  reserve  of  the  greatest 
possible  amount  of  breath  is  the  fundamental  condition 
for  good  tone  and  the  key  to  the  right  action  of  the  vocal 
bands,  the  necessity  of  studying  joy  will  be  apparent. 

Take,  for  example,  the  following  words  from  Blake's 
"Laughing  Song,"  and  give  them  with  a 
laughing  invitation,  and  being  sure  that  the 
conditions  of  joy  are  intensified  repeat  the 
word  "  come  "  with  all  the  conditions  of  the  starts  and 
the  addition  of  the  emotion.  The  student  should  repeat 
it  many  tunes  until  he  can  co-ordinate  the  emotional  with 
the  technical  conditions  of  vibration. 

Come  live,  and  be  merry,  and  join  with  me 
To  sing  the  sweet  chorus  of  "  Ha,  ha,  he !  " 
"  Laughing  Song ' '  William  Blake. 

The  helpfulness  of  laughter  for  establishing  the  right 
voice  conditions,  especially  the  centrality  of  the  motor 
power,  has  already  been  discussed.  There  is,  however, 
an  additional  helpfulness  to  be  noted  in  its  study. 

By  observing  natural  laughter  we  discover  important 
facts  regarding  the  expression  of  joy.  Not  only  does 
laughter  centre  its  activity  in  the  middle  of  the  body,  but 
we  always  take  breath  at  the  beginning  of  a  laugh.  If 
we  observe  anyone  on  the  point  of  laughing  we  can  see 
the  expansion,  the  opening  of  the  tone  passage,  the  re- 
ceiving and  reserving  of  breath  just  at  the  beginning. 


IQ4  MIND   AND   VOICE 

By  taking  advantage  of  these  conditions  in  an  individ- 
Exercise65  ual  wor(*»  or  Better  by  laughing  out  "ha, 
initiation  of  ha  "  or  "  ho,  ho  "  with  the  delicate  sudden 
tones  establishing  conditions  of  primary 
vibrations,  a  helpful  exercise  will  be  found  for  the  cor- 
rection of  various  abnormal  conditions.  The  exercise 
should  be  practiced  as  a  start  with  a  double  or  triple 
repetition  with  one  impulse.  The  pitch  can  be  varied 
widely  also.  This  very  stimulating  exercise  will  tend 
to  cause  a  class  of  students  to  laugh,  but  this  must  be 
controlled.  The  student  must  carry  the  conditions  of 
laughter  into  the  exercise  itself,  and  should  not  laugh 
extraneously  or  independent  of  the  exercise.  It  can  be 
made  an  exercise  for  the  control  of  feeling. 

It  is  also  of  assistance  in  co-ordinating  the  conscious 
and  unconscious,  the  voluntary  and  involuntary  condi- 
tions in  tone.  A  genuine  laugh  initiates  itself,  and  then 
is  regulated  by  will,  not  caused  by  it.  Laughter  is  in- 
voluntary. We  often  laugh  when  we  cannot  help  it. 
Voluntary  laughter  is  unsatisfactory;  it  is  mechanical 
and  often  a  sign  of  a  superficial  character. 

A  laugh  may  be  involuntary  but  not  unconscious. 
Attend  to  the  characteristics  of  your  own  laughter  when 
some  mistake  or  joke  arises.  This  is  the  fundamental 
condition  of  all  genuine  expression.  The  thinking,  the 
attention  of  the  mind,  the  reception  of  the  impression, 
cause  such  states  of  feeling  as  tend  to  establish  condi- 
tions of  tone  simultaneously.  Laughter  is  one  of  the 
most  important  of  these  spontaneous  actions,  and  it  acts 
directly  toward  right  conditions  of  expression. 

We  always  take  breath  at  the  beginning  of  a  genuine 
laugh.  The  reason  why  laughter  is  so  beneficial  to 
health  is  that  it  stimulates  breathing,  and  its  frequency 
causes  a  greater  quantity  to  be  taken. 

The  pantomimic  action  in  the  laugh  precedes  vocal 
action.  We  can  smile  without  laughing,  but  a  laugh 


CO-ORDINATION    IN    VIBRATION  IQ5 


without  a  smile  is  something  horrible.  The  laughter 
begins  in  the  eye  and  shows  itself  especially  in  the 
upper  corner  of  the  lower  lid.  Then  it  reveals  itself 
through  the  whole  face;  next,  follows  immediately  the 
taking  of  an  unusual  amount  of  breath.  The  vocal  part 
is  the  last,  if  the  joy  extends  to  a  degree  sufficient  to 
cause  this  audible  explosion. 

What  is  the  most  essential  part  of  the  laugh?  What 
part  can  be  practiced  to  advantage  for  improvement  of 
tone? 

The  most  important  point  of  the  laugh  is  its  initiation. 
Here  we  find  something  perfectly  consistent  with  all  the 
principles  so  far  established.  A  good  laugh  initiates 
tone  by  simultaneous  action  between  the  breath  and 
the  vocal  bands.  By  practice  of  the  initiation  sustaining 
the  tone  and  the  conditions  of  the  laugh  we  may  find 
a  natural  spontaneous  action  which  will  secure  right 
co-ordination  and  sympathetic  retention  of  the  breath 
as  well  as  that  simple  and  true  initiation  of  tone,  fun- 
damentally necessary  either  in  speech  or  in  song. 

The  study  of  involuntary  vocal  actions  is  always  help- 
ful. We  are  so  apt  to  do  a  thing  voluntarily  and  then 
think  our  way  is  right  that  we  miss  entirely  the  funda- 
mental principle  in  the  normal  action. 

In  the  study  of  involuntary  actions  we  can  usually 
realize  at  once  whether  a  laugh  is  genuine.  It  must  be 
caused  by  a  genuine  situation.  The  teacher  must  adopt 
expedients  and  must  suggest  something  that  will  awaken 
laughter,  then  instantly  stop  and  turn  the  consciousness 
of  the  pupil  upon  what  he  did,  or  rather  what  was  done 
for  him. 

Laughter  can  be  practiced  in  a  way  to  accentuate 
almost  any  fundamental  condition  of  voice  and  may  be 
used  as  an  exercise  in  the  mastery  of  any  step.  It  should 
first  be  employed  to  develop  freedom  and  strength  of 
the  diaphragm  and  to  secure  control  over  the  respiratory 


196  MIND   AND   VOICE 

muscles.  As  each  successive  step  is  taken,  the  watch- 
ful teacher  will  perceive  how  to  modify  laughter  and  use 
it  as  a  means  for  securing  a  subconscious  effect  by  the 
possession  of  a  principle. 

In  its  practice  be  careful  not  to  produce  mechanically 
the  agitations  nor  to  make  the  laugh  labored  but 
rather  to  accentuate  initiatory  conditions.  Normal 
conditions  for  tone  occur  at  the  beginning  of  the  laugh. 
It  is  necessary  that  a  true  vocal  artist  command  this 
beginning.  Possibly  this  is  why  so  few  actors  or  readers 
can  give  a  pleasing  and  effective  laugh.  They  nearly 
always  exaggerate  the  end  of  the  laugh  or  the  mechanical 
and  volitional  actions,  rather  than  indicate  the  reception 
of  the  impression  and  the  reposeful  establishment  of 
the  conditions.  A  true  laugh  is  seemingly  retained  in  the 
breathing.  It  is  never  forced  out  by  will  into  tone. 

The  laughter  of  people  is  a  measure  of  their  degree  of 
culture.  The  forced,  extravagant  guffaw,  in  which  most 
of  the  laughter  seems  to  consist  in  the  outward  demon- 
stration, marks  a  lack  of  culture,  while  the  laugh  in  which 
the  smile  predominates,  in  which  the  inner  activity  far 
transcends  the  outer  show,  —  the  greatest  activity  being 
concerned  with  the  retention  of  breath,  —  marks  a  person 
of  self-control  and  refinement.  This  cultivated  laugh 
is  also  more  healthful  and  stimulative  of  vital  energy. 

One  of  the  best  exercises  for  practice  is  the  following : 
Stand  in  an  easy,  upright  position,  and  as  far  as  possible 
become  a  spectator  of  your  own  worries  and  cares  and 
simply  laugh  at  them.  This  laugh  need  not  be  audible, 
but  let  it  be  internal  agitation  concerning  the  ridiculous 
fretting  over  what  amounts  to  nothing.  Thus,  by  the 
use  of  your  imagination,  you  may  change  your  point  of 
view  and  see  your  own  worries  and  annoyances  in  a  new 
light,  so  that  the  laughter  will  be  perfectly  genuine.  The 
"  bluer  "  a  person  is  tempted  to  be,  and  the  more  dis- 
couraged he  feels,  the  more  he  should  exercise  this 


CO-ORDINATION   IN   VIBRATION  IQ7 

laughter.  A  few  minutes  of  persevering  practice  each 
day  may  correct  tendencies  to  depression  and  ward  off 
positive  disease  as  well  as  improve  control  of  the  breath 
in  tone  production. 

It  cannot  be  too  strongly  urged  in  the  practice  of 
laughter  that  the  laugh  be  as  delicate  as  possible.  In 
its  initiation,  whenever  there  is  a  tendency  to  collapse, 
we  lose  the  conditions  at  the  start.  This  should  be 
carefully  avoided.  Any  action  can  be  made  an  exercise 
by  practicing  its  fundamental  object,  and  any  exercise 
may  be  degraded  by  carelessness  and  the  practice  of 
weaker  tendencies. 

It  is  well  to  practice  laughter  and  singing  with  recita- 
tive. For  example,  after  practicing  the  initiation  of 
laughter,  laugh  out  such  lines  as  the  last  two  of  Blake's 
"  Laughing  Song"  (p.  193)  on  different  pitches.  They  can 
be  given  on  low  and  high  pitches,  developing  thus  the 
free  use  of  all  parts  of  the  voice  as  well  as  natural  emis- 
sion, sympathetic  retention  of  breath,  greater  elasticity 
of  the  respiratory  muscles,  and  purity  of  tone. 

In  the  exercise  of  laughter  be  sure  also  not  to  accentu- 
ate outward  demonstration  but  inward  and  co-ordinating 
conditions,  the  retention  of  breath  and  openness  of  the 
throat.  Increase  the  sympathetic  expansion  of  the  whole 
body  rather  than  purely  local  action.  Soften  the  tone  as 
much  as  possible.  This  practice  aims  to  secure  control 
of  certain  conditions  rather  than  of  the  tone  itself. 

In  all  the  vocal  arts,  such  as  acting,  control  of  laughter 
is  very  difficult  but  very  important.  It  should  be  mas- 
tered, however,  not  only  for  its  own  sake,  but  also  for 
the  control  it  gives  over  the  voice. 

Imagine  the  humorous  conception  of  December  and 
May,  and  give  the  joyous  spirit  of  her  laugh-  Exerclse  66 
ter.    Be  careful  to  establish  normal  conditions  conditions  of 

„  Vibration—  II. 

and  accentuate  the  pantomimic  retention  of 
breath  rather  than  the  outward  forcing  of  the  tone. 


MIND   AND   VOICE 


WHAT  MAY  SAD)  TO  DECEMBER. 

Old  December  in  his  dotage 

Tottered  down  the  hill  one  day, 
Stopped  at  Widow  Worldly's  cottage  — 

Stopped  to  talk  to  little  May. 
May  was  busy  in  the  dairy, 

Old  December  said,  "  Good  day," 
Thought  she  looked  just  like  a  fairy 

Told  her  not  to  run  away. 
"  Prithee,  dear,  do  you  remember 

What  I  said  last  Christmas  Day?  " 
But  May  laughed  at  old  December, 
Said  she  'd  taken  it  in  play: 
Ha!  Ha!  Ha!  Ha!  Ha!  Ha!  Ha!  Ha! 

Said  she  'd  taken  it  in  play, 
Ha!  Ha!  Ha!  Ha!  Ha!  Ha!  Ha!  Ha! 
Laughed  the  merry  little  May. 

"  Nay,  I  meant  each  word  I  uttered 

That  day  'neath  the  mistletoe." 
"  Do  you  like  your  parsnips  buttered  ?  " 

Little  May  asked,  laughing  low. 
"  Child,  I  wish  that  for  one  moment 

You  would  try  to  serious  be, 
For  I  've  spoken  to  your  mother 
And  she  tells  me  you  are  free. 
But,  my  dear,  you  have  one  lover  —  " 

(Here  he  dropped  on  gouty  knee, 
Nearly  knocked  the  milk-pail  over!) 
"  Do  not  laugh,  dear  —  I  am  he !" 
Ha!  Ha!  Ha!  Ha!  Ha!  Ha!  Ha!  Ha! 

"  Do  not  laugh,  dear  —  I  am  he." 
Ha!  Ha!  Ha!  Ha!  Ha!  Ha!  Ha!  Ha! 
"  Are  you  really  —  He !  He  I  He  !  " 

"  Of  my  wealth  you  '11  be  partaker, 

I  can't  spend  it  all  myself, 
Gold  have  I,  and  many  an  acre  —  " 

"  Please,  sir,  put  this  on  the  shelf." 
"  Child,  my  wishes  are  your  mother's, 

She  has  told  me  so  herself, 
She  prefers  me  to  all  others, 

Think  of  her,  you  thoughtless  elf." 


CO-ORDINATION   IN    VIBRATION  IQ9 

"  That  I  will,"  said  May,  "  for  really 

I  don't  care  for  lands  or  pelf, 
And  as  mother  loves  you  dearly 
She  may  marry  you  herself." 
Ha!  Ha!  Ha!  Ha!  Ha!  Ha!  Ha!  Ha! 
"  She  may  marry  you  herself," 

Ha!  Ha!  Ha!  Ha!  Ha!  Ha!  Ha!  Ha! 

Mark  Ambient. 

II.   DELICACY   OF   VIBRATION. 

Another  exercise  often  needed,  especially  where  the 
voice  is  husky,  is  the  practice  of  fairy  songs,  echoes,  or 
any  passages  full  of  imaginative  or  emotional  exaltation, 
calling  for  a  delicate  and  pure  vibration.  These  exer- 
cises demand  an  unusual  economizing  of  the  breath 
spent  in  producing  the  vibration.  The  tone  passage  must 
be  kept  as  open  and  free  as  possible.  The  greatest 
amount  of  breath  must  be  retained  and  the  least  possible 
expended. 

This  exercise,  however,  as  a  rule  is  better  delayed 
until  the  sympathetic  vibrations  of  the  voice  are  under- 
taken, since  not  only  is  there  a  development  of  the 
primary  vibration  but  the  secondary  ones  are  still  more 
stimulated.  In  fact,  this  exercise  can  be  more  effectu- 
ally practiced  after  some  knowledge  of  secondary  vibra- 
tions. The  primary  and  the  sympathetic  vibrations  must, 
however,  be  developed  together. 

Establish  with  great  care  the  primary  conditions  of 
tone,  and  while  increasing  these  decrease  the  volume 
of  the  voice,  and  express  the  tenderness  of  Exercise  67. 

Transcendence 


the  "  Bugle  Song,"  accentuating  the  reserve 
of  breath,  the  openness  of  the  tone  passage,  tions—  i. 
yet  making  the  tone  as  delicate  as  possible.  Observe 
especially  the  delicacy  of  the  second  stanza.  The  echoes 
may  be  given  in  the  word  "  dying  "  as  a  technical  ex- 
ercise with  the  most  delicate  diminuendo  to  the  finest 
possible  tone.  Practice  also  the  joyous  and  tender  ex- 
clamations as  starts. 


200  MIND   AND   VOICE 

BUGLE  SONG. 

The  splendor  falls  on  castle  walls 

And  snowy  summits  old  in  story; 
The  long  light  shakes  across  the  lakes, 

And  the  wild  cataract  leaps  in  glory. 
Blow,  bugle,  blow,  set  the  wild  echoes  flying: 
Blow,  bugle;  answer,  echoes,  dying,  dying,  dying. 

O  hark,  O  hear!  how  thin  and  clear, 

And  thinner,  clearer,  further  going; 
O  sweet  and  far,  from  cliff  and  scar, 

The  horns  of  Elfland  faintly  blowing ! 
Blow,  let  us  hear  the  purple  glens  replying: 
Blow,  bugle;  answer,  echoes,  dying,  dying,  dying. 

O  love,  they  die  in  yon  rich  sky, 

They  faint  on  hill  or  field  or  river: 
Our  echoes  roll  from  soul  to  soul, 

And  grow  forever  and  forever. 
Blow,  bugle,  blow,  set  the  wild  echoes  flying; 

And  answer,  echoes,  answer,  dying,  dying,  dying. 

Tennyson. 

Repeat  on  one  pitch  "  Ding-dong,"  as  the  sound  of 
fairy  bells,  from  the  song  by  John  Davidson.  Observe 
that  the  delicacy  of  the  tone  is  not  made  by  wasting  or 
lessening  breath  or  contracting  the  tone  passage.  In- 
crease all  the  voice  conditions,  especially  the  sympa- 
thetic retention  of  the  breath  and  the  openness  of  the 
tone  passage,  and  at  the  same  time  make  the  tone  as 
soft  as  possible.  Sustain  the  feeling  of  joy  through  all,  es- 
pecially hi  the  lines  which  should  be  given  with  inflexion. 

Weave  the  dance  and  sing  the  song; 
Subterranean  depths  prolong 
The  rainy  patter  of  our  feet; 
Heights  of  air  are  rendered  sweet 
By  our  singing.    Let  us  sing, 

Breathing  softly,  fairily, 

Swelling  sweetly,  airily, 
Till  earth  and  sky  our  echo  ring. 

Rustling  leaves  chime  with  our  song: 

Fairy  bells  its  close  prolong 

Ding-dong,  ding-dong. 
From  "An  Unhistorical  Pastoral "  John  Davidson. 


CO-ORDINATION    IN    VIBRATION  2OI 

It  is  most  important,  after  mastering  the  start  and 
practicing  it,  to  apply  it  both  to  speech  and  to  song. 
A  student  may  at  times  master  a  technical  exercise, 
but  the  moment  he  begins  to  speak  or  sing  he  has 
lost  the  conditions  which  he  could  sustain.  This  is 
due  to  the  fact  that  he  has  not  a  broad  grasp  of  the 
principle,  but  apprehends  only  the  mere  mechanism 
of  the  specific  action  concerned  in  the  exercise. 

Any  true  exercise,  such  as  starting  tone,  should  be 
carefully  applied  in  as  many  directions  as  possible.  The 
student  should  apply  it  to  his  everyday  conversation,  to 
the  singing  of  a  simple  song,  to  speaking,  to  telling 
stories,  and  to  recitation. 

One  important  application  should  be  the  rendering 
of  poetry.  Poetry  is  the  intense  realization  of  a  situa- 
tion or  a  truth.  It  is  this  that  should  cause  accentuation 
of  the  primary  conditions  of  tone.  No  matter  what  one's 
profession  may  be,  whether  he  intends  to  become  a 
singer,  reader,  or  speaker,  or  merely  aims  to  speak  with 
greater  pleasure  to  himself  and  to  others,  in  business, 
society,  or  the  home,  the  voice,  as  the  most  direct  agent 
of  intense  poetic  realization,  should  be  recognized,  and 
its  conditions  increased  with  the  imaginative  and  emo- 
tional realization  of  ideas. 

While  joy  or  admiration  of  nature  should  be  one  of 
the  first  emotions  to  stimulate  true  vibration,  all  phases 
of  love  and  tenderness  should  be  practiced. 

The  most  tender  of  lyrics  may  be  made  a  technical 
exercise  by  giving  such  words  as  "  Come  "       r  i 
from  the  following,  co-ordinating  the  emotion  Application  of 

Initiation. 

and  the  conditions  of  tone.  Then  render 
the  same  word  from  other  poems  with  different  emo- 
tions, such  as  excitement,  patrotism,  love,  or  joy,  and  the 
student  can  develop  power  to  control  the  precedent 
feeling  and  to  make  this  a  means  of  establishing  the 
necessary  conditions  for  true  vibration. 


202  MIND    AND   VOICE 

Come,  come,  from  the  fortresses  of  granite 
Walling  half  the  world  out,  half  the  skies  away, 

Come  where  the  low  land,  open  by  the  shore-side, 
Offers  to  its  children  what  a  free  land  may !  .  .  . 

Scents  of  the  salt  breeze  and  scents  of  the  clover, 
Wild  rose  and  clethra  and  bayberry's  breath, 

Glamor  of  the  sea-shine,  witchery  of  mist  wreaths  — 
Hark !  they  are  calling  and  the  summer  hasteneth. 

Come,  oh,  come,  from  the  shut  and  hampered  valleys, 
Come  where  the  waves  on  the  long  beaches  run, 

Come  where  the  bosom  of  the  warm  earth  is  breathing 
Cool  breaths  of  ocean  in  a  broad  sweep  of  sun! 

"  A  Message  "  Lydia  Schuyler. 

Come,  boys,  come  out,  the  bluebirds  call, 
The  blackbirds  chirp  above  the  wall, 
Come  race  across  the  meadows  wide 
Away,  away  to  the  river  side.  C. 

Come  live  with  me,  and  be  my  love, 
And  we  will  all  the  pleasures  prove 
That  hills  and  valleys,  dale  and  field, 
And  all  the  craggy  mountains  yield. 
From  "  The  Passionate  Shepherd  to  His  Love  "  Marlowe. 

Observe  also  the  expression  of  pathos.  Give  the  word 
"  Calm  "  with  the  spirit  of  the  whole  of  the  following, 
and  note  how  the  controlling  and  intensifying  of  the 
pathos  of  the  poem  may  become  a  means  of  establish- 
ing the  co-ordination  between  the  retention  of  the  breath 
and  the  right  action  of  both  the  tone  passage  and  the 
vocal  bands. 

Calm  on  the  bosom  of  thy  God 

Young  spirit!  rest  thee  now! 
E'en  while  with  us  thy  footstep  trod, 

His  seal  was  on  thy  brow. 
Dust,  to  its  narrow  house  beneath! 

Soul,  to  its  place  on  high !  — 
They  that  have  seen  thy  look  in  death, 

No  more  may  fear  to  die. 
"A Dirge"  Mrs.  Hemans. 


CO-ORDINATION    IN  VIBRATION  2O3 

Observe  the  necessity  of  pausing  and  renewing  the 
conditions  in  repeating  the  word  "  wild  "  or  "  dark  "  or 
"  cold  "  from  the  following.  Also  note  the  tendency  to 
emphasize  "  peace  "  and  "  rest "  by  isolation  and  the 
accentuation  of  voice  conditions.  The  student  should 
repeat  these  words  many  times  to  establish  the  power 
of  instantly  taking  breath  and  opening  the  tone  passage. 
Make  the  preparatory  actions  as  decided  as  possible. 

THE  DEAD  CHURCH. 

Wild,  wild  wind,  wilt  thou  never  cease  thy  sighing? 

Dark,  dark  night  wilt  thou  never  wear  away? 

Cold,  cold  church,  in  thy  death  sleep  lying, 

Thy  Lent  is  past,  thy  Passion  here,  but  not  thine  Easterday. 

Peace,  faint  heart,  though  the  night  be  dark  and  sighing; 

Rest,  fair  corpse,  where  thy  Lord  himself  hath  lain. 

Weep,  dear  Lord,  where  thy  bride  is  lying; 

Thy  tears  shall  wake  her  frozen  limbs  to  life  and  health  again. 

Charles  Kingsley . 

Teachers  should  also  practice  dialogues  or  exclama- 
tory phrases  from  dramatic  passages  for  the  application 
of  principles  involved  in  the  starts  or  hi  the  true  use  of 
the  voice. 

Cannot  the  mechanical,  expressionless  singing  so  com- 
mon in  our  day  be  partially  corrected  if  instructors 
adopt  a  similar  course  in  teaching  their  art?  Why  not 
occasionally  take  some  little  phrase  from  a  song,  opera, 
or  oratorio,  and  have  the  student  practice  it  with  fervor 
and  intensity.  The  teacher  should  then  observe  whether 
the  conditions  of  the  exercises  are  being  assimilated 
and  awakening  the  imagination  and  the  true  expression 
of  the  student. 

Such  a  method  would  also  prevent  prejudice  on  the 
part  of  pupils  against  mere  technical  exercises,  and  the 
universal  tendency  to  practice  them  in  a  perfunctory 
way. 


204  MIND   AND    VOICE 

SUMMER  MOON. 

Summer  Moon,  O  Summer  Moon,  across  the  west  you  fly, 
You  gaze  on  half  the  earth  at  once  with  sweet  and  steadfast  eye ; 
Summer  Moon,  O  Summer  Moon,  were  I  aloft  with  thee, 
I  know  that  I  could  look  upon  my  boy  who  sails  at  sea. 

Summer  Moon,  O  Summer  Moon,  you  throw  your  silver  showers 
Upon  a  glassy  sea  that  lies  round  shores  of  fruit  and  flowers, 
The  blue  tide  trembles  on  the  shore,  with  murmuring  as  of  bees, 
And  the  shadow  of  the  ship  lies  dark  near  shades  of  orange  trees. 

Summer  Moon,  O  Summer  Moon,  now  wind  and  storm  have  fled, 
Your  light  creeps  thro'  a  cabin-pane  and  lights  a  flaxen  head ; 
He  tosses  with  his  lips  apart,  lies  smiling  in  your  gleam, 
For  underneath  his  folded  lids  you  put  a  gentle  dream. 

Summer  Moon,  O  Summer  Moon,  his  head  is  on  his  arm, 
He  stirs  with  balmy  breath  and  sees  the  moonlight  on  the  Farm, 
He  stirs  and  breathes  his  mother's  name,  he  smiles  and  sees 

once  more 
The  Moon  above,  the. fields  below,  the  shadow  at  the  door. 

Summer  Moon,  O  Summer  Moon,  across  the  lift  you  go, 
Far  south  you  gaze  and  see  my  Boy,' where  groves  of  orange  grow! 
Summer  Moon,  O  Summer  Moon,  you  turn  again  to  me, 
And  seem  to  have  the  smile  of  him  who  sleeps  upon  the  sea. 

Robert  Buchanan. 

XV.    FAULTS  IN  VIBRATION 

Faults  of  vibration  are  caused  not  only  by  wrong  use 
of  the  vocal  bands,  but  by  some  misuse  of  the  breath. 
There  is  generally  a  waste  of  this  due  chiefly  to  some 
failure  to  adjust  the  vocal  bands  to  their  function.  Since 
these  act  hi  co-ordination  with  the  diaphragm,  however, 
the  fault  may  be  caused  by  too  great  forcing  out  of 
breath,  or  constriction,  or  by  some  primary  retention  of 
the  breath. 

I.    PASSIVITY. 

A  common  fault  in  vibration  is  a  certain  inactive  con- 
dition of  breathing.  Many  on  arising  in  the  morning 
allow  the  chest  and  lungs  to  remain  in  a  collapsed  con- 


CO-ORDINATION    IN    VIBRATION  205 

dition.  There  is  not  sufficient  activity  in  the  diaphragm 
to  bring  the  vocal  bands  into  activity  by  co-ordination. 

Some  have  this  fault  in  speaking  at  the  end  of  sen- 
tences. They  breathe  too  seldom  or  give  up  support 
prematurely  or  before  closing  a  sentence.  In  this  form 
it  is  more  or  less  injurious  as  it  may  be  followed  by 
constriction  and  congestion  not  only  of  the  larynx  but 
of  the  pharynx  as  well. 

A  few  have  this  passivity  as  a  natural  fault  even  in 
conversation.  In  such  cases  it  is  usually  associated 
with  disease  of  the  lungs,  and  I  feel  sure  that  it  causes 
such  trouble.  To  remedy  the  tendency  in  time  will  pre- 
vent further  serious  consequences.  This  fault,  in  all 
cases,  can  and  must  be  corrected,  by  proper  develop- 
ment of  breathing. 

Any  exercise  in  exclamation,  laughter,  or  accentuation 
of  conditions  will  be  helpful.  Such  people  need  to  be 
awakened  and  there  is  nothing  like  expression  —  fre- 
quently dramatic  expression  —  to  accomplish  this  result. 

II.   HOARSENESS. 

When  the  vocal  bands  are  swollen  by  cold  or  when 
mucus  is  abnormally  secreted  upon  the  membranes, 
especially  upon  the  bands  themselves,  we  have  the  con- 
dition of  voice  known  as  hoarseness.  This  is  a  purely 
temporary  condition  dependent  upon  the  health. 

When  hoarse,  the  voice  as  a  rule  should  not  be  used 
or  exercised.  When  there  is  a  "  cold  in  the  head  "  the 
use  of  the  voice,  however,  actually  tends  to  help  the 
cold.  It  is  only  when  hoarseness  is  due  to  inflamed 
vocal  bands  or  other  parts  of  the  larynx  that  the  use  is 
dangerous. 

The  intimacy  of  the  vocal  bands  with  breathing  is 
shown  by  the  fact  that  deep,  slow  breathing,  retaining 
the  breath  a  short  time  without  making  tone,  will 
often  have  a  marked  effect  upon  hoarseness. 


206  MIND   AND    VOICE 

III.   HUSKINESS. 

A  chronic  condition  of  the  vocal  bands  may  be  devel- 
oped by  neglecting  colds ;  as  an  after  effect  by  careless- 
ness in  dyphtheria;  and  in  many  ways.  Huskiness  is 
possibly  the  most  difficult  fault  to  correct  when  its 
occasion  is  found  in  the  action  of  the  vocal  bands.  It 
may  be  acquired  by  the  use  of  the  voice  when  these 
bands  are  swollen  from  any  cause.  Sometimes  the 
parts  adjusting  them  will  be  found  abnormal.  One  of 
my  teachers  showed  me,  by  the  use  of  the  laryngo- 
scope, a  delicate  black  streak  on  his  vocal  bands 
which  indicated  the  cause  of  huskiness  in  his  own 
voice;  a  condition  which  he  felt  to  be  incurable  by 
training. 

Huskiness  is  occasionally  due  to  attempts  to  strengthen 
the  voice  by  making  loud  tones  and  pushing  and  forcing 
the  breath  until  the  parts  are  so  strained  that  the  vocal 
bands  cannot  adjust  themselves  accurately  hi  position. 
In  many  such  cases,  the  physician  recommends  abso- 
lute rest  for  a  time  that  the  parts  may  recover  their 
normal  tone.  A  cure  can  be  effected  only  by  gentle 
exercises.  There  must  be  practice  of  the  most  delicate 
tones  such  as  will  bring  the  vocal  bands  into  sympathetic 
opposition  and  vibration  without  labor. 

The  repetition  of  delicate,  joyous  exclamations  is 
a  help  hi  the  correction  of  the  fault.  It  is  especially 
valuable  at  the  beginning  of  the  practice  and  is  a  safe 
exercise  for  the  student  when  alone. 

The  best  technical  training  is  the  simple  practice  of 
starts.  In  this  case  the  start  must  be  given  with  great 
delicacy  and  shortness.  The  vibration  should  be  estab- 
lished as  easily  as  possible  and  immediately  the  parts 
should  be  allowed  to  come  to  rest.  Many  voices  are 
pure  after  the  tone  has  been  started,  but  give  the  im- 
pression of  huskiness  on  account  of  the  waste  of  breath 


CO-ORDINATION   IN  VIBRATION  207 

at  the  initiation.  This  is  practically  true  in  all  cases  of 
huskiness. 

In  respect  to  this  most  difficult  of  faults  we  must 
consider  the  importance  not  only  of  co-ordination  be- 
tween action  of  the  breath  and  relaxation  of  the  tone 
passage,  but  also  of  the  new  co-ordination  which  must 
be  observed  between  the  sympathetic  retention  of  the 
breath  and  the  action  of  the  vocal  bands. 

In  an  endeavor  to  cure  huskiness  attention  must  be 
given  to  health,  especially  to  the  vital  condition  of  the 
mucous  membrane.  The  body  must  be  kept  strong  and 
normal,  and  the  mind  in  a  positive  and  joyful  attitude. 

Moody  depressions  often  cause  an  abnormal  relaxation 
of  the  vocal  bands  and  a  lessening  of  the  retention  of 
breath.  The  abnormal  functioning  of  the  vocal  bands 
is  no  doubt  due  to  depression  or  perversion  of  the  respira- 
tory action.  Not  only  huskiness  but  minor  inflexions 
and  many  other  serious  defects  are  the  result  of  cherish- 
ing abnormal  moods.  Training  must  direct  attention  to 
the  fundamental  psychic  cause  of  such  defects. 

Huskiness  is  the  opposite  of  purity.  Any  exercise 
for  purity  of  tone  will  tend  to  correct  it,  but  where  the 
state  is  chronic  greater  care  is  required.  The  exercises 
must  then  be  more  delicate,  and  must  be  practiced 
longer  and  with  greater  perseverance  than  those  for 
the  correction  of  any  other  fault. 

IV.   BREATHINESS. 

The  most  common  fault  of  vibration  is  waste  of  breath, 
due  to  weary  or  sluggish  action  at  the  beginning  of  a 
tone.  It  is  often  caused  by  a  kind  of  push  of  the  breath 
on  account  of  a  preponderance  of  the  desire  to  give 
rather  than  to  retain  it  as  a  condition.  Loud  speakers 
nearly  always  become  breathy  if  not  husky. 

The  remedy  is  found  in  the  general  training  of  the 
voice,  especially  in  the  starting  of  tone  and  other  work 


208  MIND   AND   VOICE 

to  develop  economy  of  breath.  In  fact,  a  little  observa- 
tion will  convince  anyone  that  these  faults  of  vibration, 
huskiness,  aspiration,  and  other  unpleasant  qualities  are 
associated  with  waste  of  breath.  In  correcting  any  of 
these  it  will  be  well  to  awaken  a  sense  of  the  small 
amount  of  breath  that  is  spent  in  making  a  good  tone. 
Whisper  a  note,  and  then  give  it  with  good  tone,  and 
observe  how  much  more  breath  is  used  in  the  whisper. 
Purity  is  the  opposite  of  huskiness.  Any  exercise  that  will 
economize  breath  and  develop  its  sympathetic  retention, 
directly  or  indirectly,  will  help  to  cure  huskiness. 

Students  are  apt,  in  beginning  the  practice  of  voice, 
to  bring  into  active  exercise  the  expiratory  rather  than 
the  inspiratory  muscles.  Hardly  one,  when  asked  to 
make  a  tone,  will  not  commit  this  error.  This  unusual 
effort  defeats  progress  for  months  and  often  causes 
huskiness.  All  ordinary  cases  of  waste  of  breath  will 
almost  immediately  yield  to  the  exercises  for  the  econ- 
omy of  breath,  initiation  of  tone,  or  for  the  development 
of  purity. 

What  is  the  best  method  of  dealing  with  any  fault  of 
voice? 

The  best  so  far  recognized  consists  in  securing  con- 
trol of  the  local  part  with  which  the  fault  appears  to  be 
most  directly  associated.  This  seems  scientific  because, 
as  already  shown,  most  faults  of  voice  are  directly  asso- 
ciated with  constriction  of  some  specific  part.  It  must 
be  freely  granted  that  hi  training  the  voice  it  is  of  great 
importance  for  the  teacher  to  be  able  to  put  his  finger 
upon  the  constriction  that  occasions  a  false  vibration. 

Why  is  this  method  inadequate?  Because  faults  of 
voice  are  the  result  of  habit.  A  mere  conscious  control 
for  a  moment  of  the  part  constricted,  granting  that  this 
is  possible,  is  forgotten  in  the  hurry  of  speech,  and  the 
fault  recurs. 


CO-ORDINATION   IN    VIBRATION  2Og 

With  every  normal  or  abnormal  action  of  a  muscle 
or  part  of  the  body  there  is  always  a  remote  cause  in 
some  perversion  of  thinking  and  feeling,  and  this  must 
be  removed  before  any  fault  can  be  permanently  and 
radically  corrected. 

All  qualities  of  the  voice  must  be  studied  in  vital  re- 
lationship to  primary  conditions,  physical  and  mental. 
After  any  work  on  nasality,  throatiness,  flatness,  or 
huskiness,  or  after  attention  to  some  specific  quality, 
there  should  be  a  return  to  fundamental  conditions  and 
the  rendering  of  some  beautiful  passage. 

It  must  be  remembered  that  a  quality  is  something 
that  can  be  distinguished  but  not  separated  from  the 
object.  All  essential  qualities  are  present  simultaneously. 
In  a  beautiful  tone,  its  openness,  freedom,  purity,  rich- 
ness, all  cause  one  impression,  and  it  is  only  with  the 
lack  or  perversion  of  these  qualities  that  we  begin  to 
discern  their  especial  differences.  The  essential  quali- 
ties blend  together  into  unity  but  faulty  tones  are  isolated 
though  often  organically  united. 

Render  some  lyric  full  of  normal  emotion,  such  as 
love  or  joy,  exercising  as  much  as  possible  the  imagina- 
tion and  f  eeling,  so  that  all  the  conditions  can  be  accentu- 
ated, all  faults  eliminated,  and  all  positive  qualities 
developed  simultaneously. 

To  test  the  freedom  of  the  student  from  all  faults  and 
to  develop  normal  qualities,  sometimes  single  Exercise  69. 
words  may  be  used,  such  as  "  Open  "  from  g&nJof0011" 
the  following  poem.    By  speaking  this  many  vibratl011- 
tunes,  and  expressing  the  tenderness,  right  conditions 
can  be  accentuated  and  observed.    Or  better  still,  give 
the  phrase  "  Open  the  door  to  me""  several  times,  keep- 
ing the  mind  not  in  a  negative  attitude  observing  some 
fault  but  in  opposition  to  the  tendency  of  the  fault, 
positively  concentrate  attention  upon  the  situation  and 
fill  the  words  with  tender  feeling. 


210  MIND   AND   VOICE 


OLD  SONG. 
"  Love,  I  have  wandered  a  weary  way, 

A  weary  way  for  thee, 

The  East  is  wan  with  the  smile  of  the  day  — 
Open  thy  door  to  me ! 

"  My  hair  is  wet  with  the  dew  of  the  night 

That  falls  from  the  cedar-tree ; 
The  shadows  are  dark ;  but  the  East  is  light  — 
Open  thy  door  to  me ! 

"  The  stones  of  the  road  have  bruised  my  feet  — 

The  hours  till  morn  are  three  — 
Thou  that  hast  spikenard  precious  sweet, 
Open  thy  door  to  me ! 

"  Stay  not  thy  hand  upon  the  lock, 

Nor  thy  fingers  on  the  key. 
In  the  breeze  before  morn  the  tree-tops  rock  — 
Open  thy  door  to  me ! 

"  My  love  is  the  fairest,  the  only  one, 
The  choice  of  her  house  is  she  — 
The  height  of  the  heaven  hath  seen  the  sun  — 
Open  thy  door  to  me ! 

"  The  holy  kiss  of  my  lips  and  thine 
Shall  the  sun  have  grace  to  see? 
The  hours  foregone  of  the  night  are  nine  — 

Open  thy  door  to  me !  " 

H.  C.  Bunner. 


XVI.     TESTS  OF  NORMAL  AND  ABNORMAL 
QUALITIES 

In  studying  faults  and  in  the  applying  of  exercises  for 
their  correction  and  for  the  general  improvement  of 
the  voice,  the  student,  as  well  as  the  teacher,  must  be 
led  to  make  careful  observation.  How  can  we  distin- 
guish a  good  from  a  bad  tone,  or  a  normal  from  an 
abnormal  quality? 


CO-ORDINATION    IN   VIBRATION  211 

I.   THE   SPECIAL   TEST   OF   THE    SENSES. 

The  primary  means  of  detecting  all  qualities,  normal 
or  abnormal,  as  well  as  all  modulations  of  the  voice,  is 
the  sense  of  hearing.  Many  vocal  teachers  depend 
entirely  upon  the  ear.  The  teacher  sits  at  the  piano  and, 
never  looking  at  the  student,  judges  entirely  by  his  ear. 

The  ear  is  the  primary  agent  and  must  be  trained  as 
will  be  shown  later.  But  what  other  means  can  be  found 
by  which  we  can  test  or  realize  right  or  wrong  tone  con- 
ditions or  judge  the  difference  between  normal  or  ab- 
normal qualities?  By  one  who  understands  the  right 
conditions  the  eye  can  be  used.  For  example,  we  must 
perceive  whether  the  student  is  breathing  in  the  centre 
of  his  body  and  with  ease,  or  whether  he  is  constricting 
his  chest.  A  man  may  breathe  incorrectly  and  yet 
make  a  moderately  good  tone  and  the  ear  at  any  rate 
may  be  totally  unable  to  detect  the  fault.  The  teacher 
may  then  go  on  practicing  for  months  when  with  a  right 
knowledge  of  normal  breathing,  he  could  ascertain  the 
cause  of  the  trouble. 

Even  granting  what  I  doubt  —  that  a  teacher  may  be 
found  who  can  detect  wrong  respiratory  action  from  the 
character  of  the  tone  alone  —  the  pupils  need  instruction 
as  to  the  cause  of  the  difficulty.  They  are  not  so  expert 
and  their  attention  must  be  directed,  in  case  of  perver- 
sion, to  the  character  and  location  of  the  fault.  Other- 
wise they  often  perpetuate  bad  habits  which  hinder 
their  life  work,  habits  which  might  have  been  easily 
corrected  by  right  knowledge  of  breathing  and  by  direct 
attention  to  respiratory  action. 

Perhaps  more  important  still,  constricted  tones  are 
often  associated  with  constrictions  in  the  body,  espe- 
cially in  the  face.  If  the  student's  attention  be  called  to 
the  signs  of  effort,  or  to  cramps  in  the  face,  or  stiffness 
in  any  part  of  the  body,  he  may  be  able  by  correcting 


212  MIND   AND   VOICE 

these  to  prevent  the  hidden  constrictions  of  his  dia- 
phragm and  tone  passage. 

It  is  surprising  what  constrictions  are  found  in  the 
faces  of  singers.  Every  one  of  these  grimaces  is  as- 
sociated with  abnormal  muscular  action  in  the  pharynx. 
It  is  impossible  to  have  a  constricted  face  and  a  per- 
fectly relaxed  and  free  tone  passage.  It  is  important  for 
pupils  to  learn  to  feel  the  tone  through  the  whole  face, 
and  to  put  the  latter  into  sympathetic  relationship  with 
the  situation.  Many  constricted  and  abnormal  tones 
can  be  corrected  by  the  development  of  right  facial 
expression. 

Again,  the  sense  of  touch  may  be  of  great  service. 
Many  illustrations  are  given  in  this  book,  where  the 
finger  of  the  student  may  be  so  placed  upon  a  specific 
muscle  that  he  can  feel  the  local  constriction  occasioning 
his  fault. 

II.   SENSATION. 

Another  important  aid  used  with  great  results  by  the 
teachers  of  the  old  Italian  school  is  the  right  feeling  or 
sensation  which  awakens  when  a  tone  is  being  properly 
produced.  Normal  and  abnormal  tones  greatly  differ 
in  their  effects  upon  the  nervous  system.  The  student 
must  be  able  to  distinguish  those  sensations  which  are 
directly  associated  with  a  good  tone. 

There  may  be  other  tests;  certainly  these  should 
be  considered  by  every  true  teacher.  First,  a  tone 
must  both  sound  and  feel  right.  It  must  please  the 
ear  or  the  sense  to  which  all  sound  directly  appeals. 
The  student  must  be  trained  so  that  he  will  recog- 
nize in  his  own  nerves  the  sensations  of  right  vibrations. 
It  is  difficult  to  judge  of  the  character  of  a  tone  and 
especially  to  recognize  just  the  exact  cause  or  occasion 
of  any  imperfection,  and  in  the  training  of  the  voice,  as 
in  every  condition,  all  the  senses  should  be  considered 


CO-ORDINATION   IN   VIBRATION  213 

and  as  much  as  possible  brought  into  sympathetic  co- 
ordination. 

The  teacher  must  also  understand  the  normal  func- 
tioning of  the  mechanism  and  be  able  to  see  with  his 
eye  any  abnormal  actions  or  to  detect  them  by  the 
touch  of  his  finger.  He  must  apply  locally,  as  well  as 
in  other  ways,  an  exercise  for  the  correction  of  the 
perversion. 

III.    GENERAL   SIGNS   OF   PROGRESS. 

Not  only  must  attention  be  given  to  these  specific 
tests ;  a  still  wider  view  must  be  taken.  What  are  true 
signs  of  progress?  How  can  the  student  know  that  his 
voice  is  improving?  How  can  the  teacher  recognize 
that  he  is  taking  the  right  steps?  The  right  opening  of 
the  mouth  may  be  secured  and  the  right  centralization 
of  the  breathing  apparently  be  developed  but  still  the 
voice  may  not  seem  greatly  to  improve.  Though  these 
instances  are  rare,  they  are  occasionally  found. 

It  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  where  perversions  are 
extreme,  the  abnormal  actions  have  become  com- 
pletely unconscious  and  a  part  of  the  permanent  habits 
of  the  individual.  Hence,  occasionally,  the  correct  action 
of  the  exercise  is  superficial  or  consciously  done  by  the 
will  only  in  the  presence  of  the  teacher  or  during  a  de- 
liberative practice  of  the  exercises. 

This  is  one  important  reason  for  specific  psychic 
problems  and  work  such  as  that  upon  exclamations, 
in  which  attention,  imagination,  and  feeling  are  exer- 
cised. The  local  actions  must  receive  a  deeper  applica- 
tion. An  exercise  may  be  seemingly  mastered  and  not 
become  subconscious.  No  exercise  is  adequate  until  it 
has  awakened  some  unconscious  conditions,  until  it  has 
become  a  part  of  the  man's  strongest  habits  and  activities. 
The  student  must  have  patience.  Nature  takes  time 
to  develop  the  delicate  muscles  of  the  pharynx. 


214  MIND   AND   VOICE 

An  important  sign  of  improvement  is  the  elimination 
of  labor  and  of  such  faults  as  throatiness,  nasality,  flat- 
ness. The  voice  becomes  less  husky,  stronger,  more 
easily  controlled,  and  more  responsive  to  thinking  and 
feeling. 

Progress  is  especially  indicated  by  what  may  be  called 
the  essential  qualities  of  the  voice.  All  the  preceding 
lessons  imply  certain  normal  qualities  which  should 
gradually  unfold  in  the  course  of  practice.  As  a  re- 
sult of  the  mastery  of  the  first  lessons,  for  example, 
the  voice  becomes  more  responsive  to  actions  of  the 
mind.  A  change  in  mental  conception  or  situation, 
a  surprise,  or  genuine  impression,  produces  an  instan- 
taneous effect  upon  the  tone.  An  untrained  voice  seems 
independent  of  the  changes  in  thought  and  feeling.  Once 
the  co-ordination  of  the  primary  conditions  is  established, 
the  natural  response  is  restored,  and  the  voice  alters 
with  every  variation  of  the  mind. 

When  primary  exercises  are  mastered  and  a  correct 
method  of  breathing  acquired,  when  there  is  a  central 
and  harmonious  control  of  the  breath,  when  the  motive 
power  of  the  voice  has  been  developed,  tone  production 
begins  to  be  easy,  labored  action  disappears,  and  the 
tone  becomes  natural  and  pleasant  not  only  to  others 
but  to  the  student  himself.  Centrality  of  the  actions 
concerned  in  tone  production  is  synonymous  with  ease 
and  repose.  The  moment  right  control  of  the  breath 
begins  the  tone  seems  to  be  more  a  part  of  the  man; 
it  is  more  sympathetically  responsive,  more  vitally  con- 
nected with  thought  and  feeling.  As  the  openness 
of  the  tone  passage  and  the  preparatory  actions  and 
conditions  for  speech  are  secured,  the  tone  begins  to 
be  more  open,  its  vibrations  freer,  its  emission  more 
nearly  normal.  Not  only  are  all  abnormal  contractions 
of  this  passage  eliminated,  but  the  corresponding  con- 
strictions, such  as  nasality,  flatness,  and  hardness 


CO-ORDINATION    IN    VIBRATION  215 

are  also  removed,  and  the  vibrations  begin  to  be 
richer. 

The  expressive  modulations  of  the  voice  also  begin  to 
multiply.  Variations  of  pitch,  or  those  sympathetic 
vibrations  which  seem  to  have  been  lost  are  restored, 
and  all  the  expressive  modulations  become  more  har- 
moniously, simultaneously  united.  As  a  violin  needs 
to  be  in  tune  and  every  part  in  normal  condition  in 
order  that  its  tone  may  have  that  richness  peculiar  to 
the  instrument,  so  the  whole  mechanism  of  the  human 
body  and  especially  of  the  parts  directly  concerned  in 
tone  production  become  attuned  to  more  sympathetic 
vibration  and  brought  into  harmonious  accord. 

The  greatest  of  all  signs  of  progress  is  the  develop- 
ment of  the  positive  qualities,  purity  and  richness  of 
vibration,  and  the  greater  unity  of  thinking  and  feeling 
in  their  revelation  through  the  voice.  When  the  funda- 
mental co-ordinations  here  advocated  are  established, 
not  only  is  there  greater  control  of  breath,  a  more  open 
gateway  for  the  voice,  better  vibrations  and  greater  ease 
in  producing  tone,  but  many  other  co-ordinations  begin 
to  be  established  indirectly.  True  growth  is  always 
harmonious  and  applies  to  all  phases  of  the  organism. 
One-sidedness  is  a  sure  sign  of  incorrectness  in  method. 

Again  and  again  the  student  should  render  some  favo- 
rite passage  forgetting  his  technical  exercises  and  en- 
deavoring to  become  conscious  of  the  greater  power  he 
has  gained,  —  power  to  think  and  feel,  power  to  ex- 
press spontaneously  the  deeper  conditions  of  his  being. 

Yoho!  past  hedges,  gates,  and  trees;  past  cottages  and  barns, 
and  people  going  home  from  work.  Yoho!  past  donkey-chaises, 
drawn  aside  into  the  ditch,  and  empty  carts  with  rampant  horses, 
whipped  up  at  a  bound  upon  the  little  watercourse,  and  held  by 
struggling  carters  close  to  the  five-barred  gate,  until  the  coach  had 
passed  the  narrow  turning  in  the  road. 

Yoho !  down  the  pebbly  dip,  and  through  the  merry  water-splash, 

and  up  at  a  canter  to  the  level  road  again.    Yoho !    Yoho ! 

Dickens. 


2l6  MIND  AND   VOICE 


The  discontent  you  feel  with  the  work  you  are  compelled  to  do 
comes  from  your  doing  it  in  the  spirit  of  a  drudge.  Do  it  in  the 
spirit  of  an  artist,  with  a  perception  of  the  beauty  which  inheres  in 
all  honest  work,  and  the  drudgery  will  disappear  in  delight.  It  is 
the  spirit  in  which  we  work,  not  the  work  itself,  which  lends  dignity 
to  labor;  and  many  a  field  has  been  plowed,  many  a  house  has 
been  built,  in  a  grander  spirit  than  has  sometimes  attended  the 
government  of  empires  and  the  creation  of  epics.  The  cheerfulness 
which  comes  from  the  beautiful  performance  of  such  secluded 
duties  disclaims  all  aid  from  mere  animal  spirits,  and  attaches  itself 
resolutely  to  what  is  immortal  in  our  being.  It  is  "  a  masculine  and 
severe  thing;  the  recreation  of  the  judgment,  the  jubilee  of  reason; 
filling  the  soul,  as  God  fills  the  universe,  silently  and  without  noise !  " 

Cheerfulness  is  a  characteristic  of  all  great  writers  whose  thoughts 
and  imaginations  have  their  spring  in  primitive  feelings  and  affec- 
tions, which  are  sound,  vigorous,  and  unspotted  with  discontent  and 
misanthropy.  There  is  often  in  pathos  a  gentle  and  refining  melan- 
choly, a  tender  sadness,  which  does  not  sadden.  The  fire  of  Mil- 
ton's genius  burns  away  the  mists  and  vapors  of  the  soul  as  readily 
as  they  are  chased  away  by  Ariosto's  more  graceful  and  gleeful 
enchantments.  The  tempest-like  passions  that  rend  the  breasts 
of  Lear,  Macbeth,  and  Othello  are  spiritual  tonics.  In  short,  where 
there  is  health  in  the  senses  and  the  soul  of  the  writer,  there  is 
cheer;  and,  what  is  more,  the  sun-like  radiation  of  cheer.  .  .  . 

We  should  specially  watch  and  wait  for  those  precious  moments, 
not  common  to  the  most  bountifully  endowed  natures,  but  coming 
at  intervals  to  all,  when  Heaven  seems  graciously  revealed  to  our 
minds  —  when,  through  inlets  of  inspiration  suddenly  opened, 
stream  thoughts  and  sentiments  which,  for  the  time,  make  existence 
ecstasy !  Fix  these  moods  in  the  memory,  hoard  them  in  the  heart, 
assimilate  them  to  the  very  substance  of  the  soul;  for  they  can 
endear  life,  and  make  it  beautiful  and  sweet,  long  after  their  im- 
paradising  rapture  has  faded  into  "  the  light  of  common  day." 
"  Hold,"  says  the  Eastern  proverb  —  "  hold  all  the  skirts  of  thy 
mantle  extended  when  Heaven  is  raining  gold!  " 

Adapted.  E.  P.  Whipple. 


V 
LENGTH   OF  THE  SOUND  WAVES 

Aside  from  the  initiation  of  vibration  the  vocal  bands 
discharge  the  important  function  of  giving  and  varying 
pitch.  Change  of  pitch  is  one  of  the  most  observable 
elements  in  all  uses  of  the  voice,  not  only  in  song  but  in 
all  vocal  expression;  yet  nothing  illustrates  the  preva- 
lent ignorance  of  the  rudiments  of  speech  more  than 
the  misconceptions  regarding  this,  the  most  common 
of  all  voice  modulations.  In  one  of  the  most  scholarly  of 
recent  dictionaries,  under  the  subject  of  voice,  we  find 
this  sentence :  "  In  ordinary  speaking,  the  tones  of  the 
voice  have  nearly  all  the  same  pitch  and  the  variety  of 
sounds  is  due  rather  to  the  action  of  the  mouth  organs 
than  to  the  definite  movement  of  the  glottis  and  vocal 
chords."  Such  a  statement  is  astounding ! 

Over  against  this  place  the  following  from  one  who 
understands  the  subject,  Harry  Collins  Deacon  (article 
on  Singing,  "  Dictionary  of  Music").  "  A  short  inquiry 
into  the  difference  between  speaking  and  singing  in  the 
five  languages  to  which  the  largest  amount  of  vocal 
music  has  been  composed,  namely,  Italian,  Latin,  French, 
German,  and  English,  will  not  be  out  of  place.  Of  all 
languages,  the  Italian  is  most  alike  in  singing  and  speak- 
ing —  English  the  least.  Of  the  four  essential  points  of 
difference  between  speaking  and  singing,  the  first  and 
foremost  is  that  in  speaking  (as  in  the  warbling  of 
almost  all  birds)  the  isochronism  of  vibration  is  never 
present  for  a  period  long  enough  to  make  an  appreciable 
musical  note.  A  sympathetic  speaking  voice  is  one  whose 


2l8  MIND    AND    VOICE 

production  of  tone  most  nearly  approaches  that  of  the 
singing  voice,  but  whose  inflexions  are  so  varied  as  to 
remove  it  entirely  from  actual  music.  The  word  *  Cant ' 
not  improbably  has  its  origin  in  puritanical  sing-song 
speaking,  and  the  word  has  been  transferred  from  the 
manner  to  the  matter,  and  applied  to  hypocritical  ex- 
pression of  sanctity  or  sentiment.  In  sing-song  speak- 
ing the  exact  opposite  of  the  above  combination  is 
generally  found  —  namely,  an  approximation  to  musical 
notes,  and  an  abominable  tone-production.  The  second 
distinguishing  point  is  the  fact  that  in  ordinary  speaking 
little  more  than  one  third  (the  lower  third)  of  the  vocal 
compass  comes  into  play,  while  in  singing  the  middle 
and  upper  parts  are  chiefly  used." 

In  song  any  change  of  pitch  is  recognized  because 
each  tone  is  given  in  a  fixed  key  and  is  of  a  definite 
length,  so  that  many  persons  can  unite  in  a  melody, 
or  with  mechanical  musical  instruments.  All  intervals 
and  length  of  tones  can  be  measured  and  objectively 
recorded  in  a  score.  In  speech,  however,  the  variations 
are  far  more  numerous  and  infinitely  more  complicated. 
Hence,  they  cannot  be  indicated  mechanically.  All  that 
can  be  done  is  to  hint  at  the  fundamental  elements. 
The  fact  that  they  cannot  be  adequately  recorded  has 
possibly  caused  them  to  be  so  frequently  overlooked, 
even  by  able  observers. 

If  we  consider  carefully  the  modulations  of  the  voice 
in  simple  conversation  and  their  relations  to  mental 
actions,  we  shall  find  that  every  variation  of  inflexion  or 
pitch,  as  well  as  every  modulation  of  any  kind,  no  matter 
how  slight,  has  a  psychological  cause. 

These  modulations  of  the  voice  are  numerous  and 
vary  in  unity  generally  in  proportion  to  the  degree 
of  culture  of  the  individual.  Many  persons  have  so 
long  suppressed  or  left  inactive  imagination  and  feeling 
and  the  higher  powers  that  the  voice  remains  rigid 


LENGTH   OF   THE   SOUND   WAVES  2IQ 

and  crude,  with  its  possibilities  of  responsiveness 
undeveloped. 

In  other  persons,  though  imagination  and  feeling 
have  been  unfolded,  the  natural  connection  between 
the  higher  actions  of  the  mind  and  the  voice  has  never 
been  found  or  trained.  It  has  rather  been  perverted  on 
account  of  the  wrong  use  of  the  voice. 

The  voice  of  nearly  everyone  responds  to  ordinary 
thinking,  and  the  attitudes  of  the  mind  in  everyday  life. 
The  first  of  these  to  be  learned  consciously  or  uncon- 
sciously, which  are  realized  early  in  the  child's  life,  are 
the  variations  in  key  or  vocal  form,  resulting  from  a 
combination  of  inflexions  and  changes  of  pitch. 

The  improvement  of  all  the  modulations,  especially 
of  the  higher  ones,  or  the  higher  use  of  all  of  them, 
implies  a  responsive  condition  of  the  voice,  which  is 
best  developed  by  the  exercise  of  the  specific  functions, 
and  especially  of  the  elementary  actions  of  each  part. 
It  is  the  office  of  vocal  training  to  develop  expertness 
in  performing  the  elemental  functions  of  the  voice. 

The  conditions  favorable  to  modulation  will  be  con- 
sidered in  accordance  with  the  three  modulations  which 
can  be  given  to  the  sound  waves.  A  sound  wave,  as  has 
been  shown,  can  vary  in  length,  that  is,  pitch;  in  height, 
or  amplitude  that  is,  degree  of  loudness  or  volume; 
in  shape,  that  is,  in  resonance  or  tone  color. 

Usually  the  first  of  these  to  be  mastered  is  the  power 
to  change  the  pitch;  at  any  rate  this,  being  expressive 
of  the  rational  intellections  will  be  first  considered.  It 
is  most  intimately  connected  with  ordinary  thinking. 

Although  there  is  a  vital  connection  between  mental 
action  and  voice  modulation ;  although  the  voice  immedi- 
ately responds  to  every  variation  of  thinking  and  feeling, 
still,  merely  possessing  an  idea  or  an  emotion  does  not 
necessarily  cause  its  natural  sign,  unless  the  organism 
and  the  voice  are  in  a  normal  and  responsive  condition. 


220  MIND   AND   VOICE 

The  best  musician  can  hardly  bring  music  from  an  instru- 
ment out  of  tune.  Training  is  especially  concerned  in 
the  establishment  of  these  normal  responsive  conditions. 
The  voice  must  be  attuned  before  it  will  respond  directly 
to  the  actions  of  the  mind. 

The  first  condition  observable  in  voice,  as  a  rule,  is 
a  certain  rigidity  or  want  of  responsiveness.  It  lacks 
facility  to  change  pitch,  to  make  inflexions,  or  to  modulate 
in  response  to  thinking  and  feeling.  The  first  step 
necessarily  implies  the  strengthening  of  the  mental 
actions  because  all  imperfections  of  voice  are  more  or 
less  caused  by  imperfect  action  of  the  mind.  Still,  these 
mental  actions  may  receive  direct  attention  and  yet  the 
voice  may  have  been  so  perverted  by  habit  as  to  remain 
rigid.  Hence,  specific  study  and  development  of  the 
elemental,  distinctive,  or  functional  actions  of  the  voice 
are  necessary. 

XVII.    THE  TRAINING  OF  THE  EAR 

Before  beginning  the  study  and  development  of  varia- 
tion of  pitch  we  meet  the  necessity  of  training  the  sense 
by  which  the  mind  recognizes  the  primary  modulations 
of  the  voice.  The  chief  aid  in  realizing  tone  is  the  ear. 
All  animals  with  voices  also  have  ears.  Whenever  there 
is  an  imperfection  in  the  ear  there  will  be  some  defect 
in  the  voice.  The  deaf  mute  may  have  as  perfect  vocal 
organs  as  anyone  but  his  lack  of  control  over  his  voice 
is  due  to  his  lack  of  hearing.  Simultaneously  with  all 
improvement  of  the  voice  there  must  be  education  of 
the  ear.  Exercises  must  be  given  for  the  direction  of 
attention  through  the  ear  to  the  various  modulations 
of  the  voice. 

It  seems  strange  at  first  how  crude  is  the  recognition 
of  these  modulations,  and  yet  when  so  little  attention 
is  paid  to  training  the  ear  how  could  it  be  otherwise? 


LENGTH    OF   THE    SOUND    WAVES  221 

To  make  any  discrimination  between  the  fundamental 
and  the  accidental  elements  in  voice  modulations,  to 
develop  or  to  accentuate  any  one  of  them,  or  to  turn 
one  of  them  into  an  effective  exercise  requires  a  recog- 
nition of  their  character. 

Here  is  one  of  the  basic  phases  of  education,  fre- 
quently overlooked  in  the  past,  namely,  the  develop- 
ment of  the  senses.  A  sense  is  simply  the  agent  of  the 
mind's  attention,  a  means  of  receiving  an  impression 
from  objective  things. 

Hallock,  in  his  book  on  "  The  Central  Nervous  Sys- 
tem," endeavors  to  prove  that  Shakespeare  was  the  best 
educated  man  of  his  time,  if  not  of  all  ages,  by  pointing 
out  the  accuracy  of  his  perceptions.  All  flowers  are 
referred  to  accurately;  the  descriptions  of  plants  are 
marvelous,  and  the  reference  to  every  sound  is  correct. 
Hallock  conjectures  that  Shakespeare  received  his  train- 
ing hi  visits  to  his  grandfather's  farm  at  Snittlefield. 

The  new  method  of  studying  nature,  by  directing  the 
observation  of  children  and  of  training  all  the  senses, 
especially  the  eye  and  ear,  reveals  the  possibilities  of 
developing  organic  agents  as  the  basis  of  education. 

One  of  the  most  important  senses  is  the  ear;  without 
its  improvement  not  only  would  all  work  for  the  develop- 
ment of  the  voice  be  greatly  hindered,  but  much  of  life's 
enjoyment  would  be  lost.  When  a  human  being  in 
early  life  loses  the  sense  of  hearing,  it  requires  care  and 
perseverance  to  teach  him  to  speak.  The  natural  ex- 
pressive modulations  of  the  voice  have  rarely  been 
mastered  by  such  persons. 

Many  people  consider  the  eye  the  most  important 
sense;  but  a  gentlemen  who  had  been  completely  blind 
for  twenty  years  once  said  to  me,  "  I  should  prefer  to  be 
blind  than  deaf."  I  was  astonished  at  this  and  asked 
him  why.  "  Because,"  was  the  answer,  "  the  deaf  are 
cut  off  from  communication  with  their  kind." 


222  MIND   AND   VOICE 

The  ear  is  not  only  the  greatest  agent  of  social  inter- 
course but  it  is  more  connected  with  feeling  than  the 
eye.  Music  is  the  most  subjective  of  all  the  arts.  With- 
out the  modulations  of  the  voice,  feeling  could  hardly 
be  defined  or  expressed.  The  inadequacy  of  words  to 
represent  feeling  is  well  known.  It  is  the  voice  that  fur- 
nishes the  natural  signs  of  emotion  and  without  proper 
attention  to  these,  the  development  of  refined  feeling  is 
hardly  possible. 

I.   POSSIBILITY  OF  DEVELOPING  THE   EAR. 

There  are  some  who  foolishly  consider  the  ear  in- 
capable of  improvement.  "  I  have  known  cases,"  says 
one,  "  where  all  the  children  of  a  family  can  sing  except 
one,  and  that  one  has  no  power  to  use  the  voice  in 
song;  cannot,  in  fact,  carry  or  recognize  the  simplest 
tune." 

Many  similar  cases  could  be  mentioned  but  they  prove 
nothing.  That  particular  child  may  have  had  unusual 
sensitiveness  to  singing  but  may  have  heard  discordant 
songs  or  tones  which  prejudiced  it  against  all  singing, 
and  caused  a  suppression  of  attention  to  song,  or  some 
shock  may  have  been  given  the  nervous  system.  I  knew 
a  gentleman  who  had  a  particularly  high  appreciation 
of  all  music,  and  yet  he  himself  could  not  sing  a  note. 
How  it  happened  that  he  lost  the  connection  between 
his  own  will,  controlling  the  vocal  bands,  and  his  appre- 
ciation of  music,  was  of  course  a  mystery;  but  for  some 
reason,  that  particular  action  of  the  vocal  bands  may 
have  become  temporarily  inactive  and  the  co-ordinate 
actions  lost.  These  primary  conditions  of  song,  these 
complex  co-ordinations,  which  concern  nearly  every- 
thing man  does,  speaking  certainly  as  well  as  singing, 
could  have  been  easily  restored  by  a  little  attention  at 
the  time  or  soon  afterward.  This  was  neglected  and 
the  longer  the  separation  or  disconnection  was  kept  up, 


LENGTH   OF   THE   SOUND   WAVES  223 

the  wider  the  breach  became,  until  the  possibility  of 
restoring  co-ordination  was  practically  lost. 

Of  course  some  one  will  say,  "  Why  is  there  not  a  cor- 
responding loss  in  speech,  if  speech  is  more  complex 
than  song?  "  Because  speech  is  a  necessity  of  everyday 
life,  and  is  constantly  in  use ;  but  that  such  co-ordinations 
are  lost  in  speech  is  shown  by  stammering  and  other 
impediments  of  speech.  I  have  known  persons  in  good 
health  appear  to  lose  completely  the  power  of  speaking 
normally.  One  lady  in  particular  came  to  me,  who 
thought  she  had  hypnotized  herself  by  reading  an  article 
on  the  loss  of  speech.  Every  word  was  dragged  and 
drawled;  every  element  pronounced,  although  much 
slower  than  usual,  and  all  inflexions  had  been  lost. 
Here  was  a  peculiar  case,  where  all  the  functions  of 
voice  remained  practically  in  command,  except  the 
modulations  of  inflexion.  Change  of  pitch  between 
phrases  and  sentences  seemed  to  be  partly  left,  but  even 
this  was  imperfect. 

Of  course  there  are  differences  in  capacity  in  the  sus- 
ceptibility of  the  ear  in  both  speech  and  song,  as  in  all 
other  faculties  and  powers.  I  have  found  frequently 
that  the  children  of  those  who  do  not  often  hear  singing 
in  the  home,  other  things  being  equal,  have  poor  musical 
ears ;  but  every  sense  as  well  as  faculty  and  power  in  a 
human  being,  can  be  improved  and  trained.  Even  in 
such  homes  an  occasional  child,  possibly  from  some 
early  influence,  such  as  the  hearing  of  some  beautiful 
music,  which  awoke  early  the  consciousness  of  the 
function,  possesses  unusual  musical  powers.  Such 
exceptional  cases  can  be  easily  explained  and  are  analo- 
gous to  facility  in  other  pursuits  or  arts.  Everybody 
can  learn  to  sing,  if  the  steps  are  taken  at  the  right 
time  and  hi  the  right  way,  just  as  everyone  can  learn  to 
speak. 

Those  who   understand  the   physiological  basis   of 


224  MIND   AND   VOICE 

education  need  no  argument  as  to  the  necessity  of 
training  the  ear,  or  the  possibility  of  developing  it. 
The  importance  of  training  the  ear  is  shown  by  an 
innumerable  number  of  considerations.  It  is  the  closest 
of  all  the  senses  to  the  sensibilities  and  emotions.  It 
may  also  be  added  that  it  is  a  more  spiritual  sense  than 
sight.  The  eye  is  intellectual,  but  the  ear  has  a  deeper 
sensitiveness.  While  discordant  colors  may  irritate 
many,  discordant  sounds  will  affect  nearly  everybody. 
While  any  strain  in  the  eye  may  cause  constriction  of 
the  forehead  and  tend  to  harden  the  voice,  a  discordant 
sound  or  noise  will  induce  a  still  worse  constriction  and 
a  greater  irritation  of  the  nerves. 

The  time  devoted  to  training  the  ear  is  never  lost; 
when  once  the  mind  uses  this  organ  as  an  agent  of  at- 
tention, improvement  in  the  voice  will  be  rapid. 

It  is  unfortunate  that  attention  is  not  given  to  this  sub- 
ject by  mothers,  nurses,  and  teachers,  as  the  younger 
the  child,  the  easier  it  is,  other  things  being  equal,  to 
develop  and  unfold  every  one  of  its  senses.  This  de- 
velopment seems  to  be  the  first  birthright  of  the  human 
being.  The  earliest  sounds  to  be  heard  by  the  child 
should  be  song. 

The  power  of  the  ear  to  realize  modifications  of  sound, 
whether  in  speech  or  song,  seems  astonishing.  I  know 
a  gentleman  who  has  given  great  attention  to  the  collec- 
ing  of  violins.  When  he  hears  a  violin  anywhere,  he 
can  tell  the  country  in  which  it  was  made.  He  can  even 
distinguish  between  the  violins  of  the  chief  makers  of 
Italy  by  their  tones  alone.  One  whose  business  it  is 
to  test  pianos  develops  marvelous  power  to  appreciate 
differences.  A  wise  person  always  calls  in  the  assis- 
tance of  such  an  expert  in  selecting  a  piano.  Even 
differences  in  the  tones  of  pianos  of  the  same  make 
can  be  detected. 

The  ability  of  Dr.  Alexander  Graham  Bell  to  detect 


LENGTH    OF   THE   SOUND   WAVES  225 

every  shade  of  difference  and  of  delicate  inflexions  in 
speech,  caused  me  great  astonishment  when  I  had  the 
honor  to  be  his  pupil,  and  yet  when  we  remember  the 
long  years  of  attention  given  by  the  discoverer  of 
the  telephone  to  the  human  voice  and  to  sound  much 
of  this  skill  is  naturally  to  be  expected. 

His  father,  the  discoverer  of  visible  speech,  whose 
pupil  I  also  was,  had  also  marvelous  power  to  realize 
every  peculiarity  of  vowels,  consonants,  as  well  as  of 
inflexions.  This  was  the  fruit  of  long  years  of  direct 
attention  to  the  subject  of  speaking. 

The  training  of  the  ear  is  a  simple  matter  of  exercising 
the  direction  of  attention  or  of  using  the  ear  as  the  agent 
of  the  mind  in  recognizing  certain  vibrations.  Men 
seem  to  think  that  it  is  unnecessary  to  educate  the  senses, 
—  that  the  eye,  for  example,  needs  no  training,  but  it 
is  educated  through  long  years  of  experiment.  Unless 
the  sight,  the  quickest  of  all  senses,  is  developed,  the 
eye  may  look  at  things  but  will  not  see  them. 

One  who  has  had  cataracts  upon  the  eyes  from  early 
childhood,  after  these  have  been  removed  will  grasp 
with  the  hands  for  objects  seen  against  his  face.  Edu- 
cation of  the  eye  and  ear  should,  as  a  rule,  precede  all 
other  forms  of  education.  The  child  has  to  experiment 
with  its  eye  and  reach  out  with  its  hand,  co-ordinating 
touch  and  sight  until  he  learns  to  measure  distance. 
Color  blindness  is  often  a  result  of  neglect.  There  has 
been  no  attention  to  discrimination  of  tints. 

Possibly,  if  we  knew  all  the  facts,  hearing  would  be 
one  of  the  easiest  senses  to  train,  and  there  is  no  excuse 
for  having  a  "  poor  ear."  All  that  is  needed  is  persever- 
ance and  careful  observation  of  the  primary  actions  of 
the  voice.  So  true  is  this  that  Regnier,  one  of  the 
greatest  teachers  of  modern  times,  and  for  forty  years 
the  foremost  actor  in  France,  said  that  to  succeed  on 
the  stage  a  man  should  be  afflicted  with  some  incurable 


226  MIND   AND   VOICE 

impediment.  The  truth  back  of  this  paradox  is  that 
physical  conditions  do  not  make  an  artist.  Perserver- 
ance,  hard  work,  application,  the  discovery  and  mastery 
of  conditions,  the  manifestation  of  mental  action  through 
voice  and  body  are  the  primary  essentials. 

The.  basic  step  then  to  be  taken  in  training  the  ear  is 
the  directing  and  fixing  of  attention  and  the  use  of  the 
sense  as  the  organ  of  the  mind.  It  must  be  remembered 
that  it  is  mental  work  that  is  needed,  though  this  implies 
stimulation  in  the  use  of  certain  agents.  A  person  with 
so-called  "  poor  ear  "  may  have  a  perfect  physical  organ 
but  he  has  not  made  it  the  agent  of  his  mind. 

II.   THE   SENSE    OF   VARIATION  IN   PITCH. 

Many  persons  have  a  good  ear  for  inflexion  but  not 
for  fixed  pitches.  Some  fail  especially  in  discriminating 
changes  of  pitch  between  words  and  phrases.  All  these 
defects  are  due  to  lack  of  attention.  As  we  have  seen, 
the  ear  is  simply  the  agent  of  the  mind  and  attention 
should  be  directed  through  the  ear  to  all  the  various 
phenomena  of  change  of  pitch. 

The  following  method  of  developing  the  ear,  a  part  of 
which  is  taken  from  Dr.  Graham  Bell's  lessons,  has 
never  failed  when  the  students  gave  the  proper  attention 
and  practice. 

On  a  piece  of  paper  or  blackboard  make  a  long  sloping 
Exercises  7o-74.mark  upward,  and  then  hi  contrast  one  sloping 
nSeldonsand  downward.  Make  the  rising  slope  gradually, 
following  it  slowly  with  the  voice,  and  then 
do  the  same  with  the  downward  mark.  The  con- 
trast should  be  so  salient  that  the  dullest  ear  can 
realize  the  difference.  Then  gradually  give  both  more 
rapidly  while  preserving  the  same  form. 

Make  also  the  downward  slide  first,  and  the  upward 
one  second,  and  practice  in  reverse  order.  Pass  from 
one  to  the  other  in  various  ways,  keeping  the  inflexions 


LENGTH    OF   THE    SOUND    WAVES  227 

long  and  gradual  enough  to  be  recognized,  quickening 
them  as  the  power  to  give  attention  through  the  ear  is 
developed. ' 

Contrasts  of  any  kind  greatly  help  in  training  the  ear. 
If  a  person  cannot  tell  readily  whether  the  voice  rises 
or  falls,  when  the  two  are  given  in  contrast  he  will  be 
able  by  this  exercise  to  detect  the  difference.  The 
teacher  may  make  straight  or  sloping  lines  on  the 
blackboard  with  an  abrupt  change  upward  or  downward, 
then  straight  again,  making  all  sorts  of  directions,  and 
have  students  follow  with  their  voices  these  lines  as 
directed  by  a  pointer. 

After  a  little  practice  with  the  teacher,  either  individu- 
ally or  in  class,  the  student  should  conduct  such  exercises 
alone  until  he  realizes  the  direction  his  or  any  voice 
takes  at  all  times.  Let  no  one  be  discouraged,  but  make 
the  marks  gradual  at  first,  and  in  a  little  while  he  will 
recognize  differences  quickly. 

The  teacher  with  a  large  class  of  any  grade,  even  very 
young  children,  can  make  an  inflexion  and  call  for  the 
students  instantly  to  follow.  The  class  must  be  trained 
instantly  to  obey  instinct.  Inflexions  may  be  greatly 
varied  in  direction,  in  length,  in  abruptness,  and  in  the 
different  pitches  upon  which  they  are  initiated,  and  last 
of  all  in  straightness,  though  this  should  be  an  accidental 
part  of  the  practice. 

Again,  the  teacher  should  make  inflexions  and  ask 
the  class  to  tell  what  inflexion  was  made,  rising,  falling, 
long  rise,  short  rise,  long  fall,  short  fall,  or  the  like.  This 
is  a  more  difficult  exercise.  One  which  is  still  more 
difficult  is  to  have  the  student  take  a  sheet  of  paper, 
after  the  teacher  has  carefully  arranged  his  inflexions 
by  number,  mark  them  as  they  are  given  by  him.  The 
teacher  can  then  collect  the  papers  and  in  this  way  he 
can  examine  the  ear  of  everyone. 

Everyone  will  be  led  to  wonder  why  it  is  easier  to 


228  MIND   AND   VOICE 

repeat  an  inflexion  after  another  person  than  to  name 
the  inflexion  or  to  mark  it  on  paper.  It  is  because  in 
repeating  it  after  another  we  obey  our  instincts,  but  in 
naming  it  or  marking  it  down  we  get  into  a  reasoning 
attitude  of  mind  about  it,  allow  doubts  to  enter,  and  are 
thus  more  open  to  error. 

Let  the  teacher  start  an  inflexion  on  a  great  variety 
of  pitches,  making  wide  and  sudden  leaps,  and  have 
the  students  follow  him,  or  name  them  "  high,  short 
rise,"  etc.  In  the  practice  of  such  exercises  the  attention 
of  the  mind  will  be  directed  both  to  the  inflexion  and  to 
the  variation  of  pitch.  The  teacher  should  gradually 
shorten  the  inflexions,  first  without  varying  them  es- 
sentially, then  making  a  sudden  leap,  giving  a  short  rise 
from  a  low  pitch  or  a  short  fall  from  a  high  pitch.  The 
student  will  take  the  direction  of  the  interval,  and  will 
often  carry  it  over  unconsciously  to  the  inflexion.  He 
can  follow  the  teacher  with  his  voice,  but  the  difficulty 
is  in  naming  the  inflexion.  These  are  interesting  and 
helpful  even  to  persons  with  good  ears.  This  exercise 
can  be  made  very  difficult,  but  it  must  not  be  made  so 
at  first.  Occasionally,  easy  exercises  .must  be  used, 
especially  to  encourage  and  lead  on  those  students  with 
poorer  ears.  The  difficult  exercises  should  be  introduced 
gradually.  The  student  must  be  led  to  have  confidence 
in  his  ear  and  to  recognize  the  necessity  of  trusting  it. 

Another  exercise  is  to  use  an  instrument  and  follow  its 
notes  with  the  voice.  Listening  to  good  music,  especially 
if  it  is  vocal,  will  also  aid.  The  student  should  observe 
and  mark  the  inflexions  made  in  conversation  or  by 
speakers,  public  readers,  and  actors,  and  be  able  to 
record  any  given  inflexions  or  peculiarities  of  utterance 
or  speech  and  even  to  mark  them  down. 

It  is  the  custom  of  a  great  many  teachers  to  tram  the 
ear  by  means  of  circumflex  inflexions.  While  these 
are  helpful  to  healthy  ears,  it  must  be  understood  that 


LENGTH    OF   THE    SOUND    WAVES  22Q 

by]  their  means  the  student  should  be  made  sensitive, 
for  the  most  part,  in  order  to  avoid  them. 

Choose  a  simple  sentence  from  conversation,  or  from 
any  book  at  hand  or  short  poem.    Read  it  Exercise7S 
in  a  great  many  ways,  correct  and  incorrect,  sense  of  vocal 
and  have  the  students  mark  upon  a  sheet  of 
paper  the  main  inflexional  characteristics  of  each  rendi- 
tion.   It  is  well  also  at  times  to  mark  a  sentence  before- 
hand in  a  certain  way,  and   have  students  follow  the 
marks.    Many  phrases  should  be  given  so  as  to  furnish 
a  great  variety  and  slowly  to  awaken  the  instinctive 
sense  of  the  meaning  of  inflexional  form. 

George  never  saw  his  brother  James. 

Upon  the  valley's  lap  the  liberal  morning  throws 
A  thousand  drops  of  dew,  to  wake  a  single  rose. 
Thus,  often  in  the  course  of  life's  few  fleeting  years, 
A  single  pleasure  costs  the  soul  a  thousand  tears. 

Jose  Rosas. 

Should  we  train  the  ear  by  song  or  by  speech?  By 
both.  I  have  met  singers  whose  ears  for  music  were 
good  but  for  speech  poor.  I  have  also  known  many  who 
have  given  great  attention  to  inflexion  in  speech  who 
had  poor  ears  for  song.  The  ear  should  be  trained  in 
both  directions.  Those  who  are  to  be  singers  need  both 
kinds  of  training  and  so  do  those  who  are  to  be  speakers. 

III.   THE   SENSE   OF   QUALITY. 

Not  only  should  the  ear  be  trained  to  detect  the  slight- 
est variation  of  pitch,  but  also  to  realize  combinations  of 
primary  and  secondary  vibrations  or  the  elements  which 
constitute  the  beauties  or  faults  of  tone  independent  of 
change  of  pitch. 

The  sensitiveness  of  the  ear  to  qualities  must  be 
greatly  improved.  The  attention  of  everyone,  especially 
of  children,  should  be  directed  to  beautiful  sounds  in 


230  MIND   AND   VOICE 

nature,  such  as  the  murmur  of  brooks,  the  wind  among 
the  pines,  the  tones  of  the  turtle  doves,  or  of  the  various 
thrushes,  the  joyous  call  of  the  robin.  Children  should 
be  led  to  observe  the  difference  between  the  tones  of 
various  instruments,  especially  of  the  violin  and  the 
aeolian  harp.  Even  the  power  to  detect  the  difference 
between  two  pianos  or  two  violins  should  be  developed. 

Hardly  anything  adds  more  to  the  joys  of  life  than 
the  sensitiveness  of  the  ear  to  the  winds,  the  waves, 
the  storms,  and  all  of  nature's  tones  from  the  beautiful 
love  song  of  the  toad  to  that  of  the  bobolink. 

How  far  does  the  lack  of  beautiful  sounds  affect  the 
imagination  and  feeling  of  people?  It  is  an  interesting 
question  in  culture  which  has  not  yet  been  fully  investi- 
gated. Shakespeare,  whose  ear  was  trained  by  long  con- 
tact with  nature  and  men,  has  recorded  the  importance 
of  music  in  words  which  have  often  been  quoted 

The  man  that  hath  no  music  in  himself, 
Nor  is  not  mov'd  with  concord  of  sweet  sounds, 
Is  fit  for  treasons,  stratagems  and  spoils: 
The  motions  of  his  spirit  are  dull  as  night 
And  his  affections  dark  as  Erebus : 
Let  no  such  man  be  trusted. 
4 '  Merchant  of  Venice ' '  Shakespeare. 

Paradoxical  as  it  may  seem,  everyone  should  be  trained 
to  hear  silence.  The  appreciation  of  absolute  stillness 
is  one  of  the  difficult  things.  In  the  lonely  cave  we  hear 
the  noise  of  the  circulation  of  our  own  blood  through  the 
ear.  Going  away  among  the  hills  and  woods  should  be 
everyone's  duty,  if  for  no  other  reason  than  that  the 
ear  may  become  rested  from  the  noise  and  jars  of  the 
city.  In  the  education  of  .feeling,  each  one  should  come 
into  acquaintance  with  beautiful  music  and  praise,  until 
"  beauty  born  of  murmuring  sound  shall  pass  into  the 
face,"  and  also  into  the  voice. 

The  ear  must  be  trained  to  higher  discriminations. 


LENGTH    OF   THE   SOUND   WAVES  231 

Simply  recognizing  the  beauty  of  a  pure  tone  will  lead 
to  the  making  of  better  ones. 

The  last  difference,  however,  to  be  detected  will  be 
the  true  and  the  false  in  our  own  voices.  As  an  aid  let 
each  one  observe  carefully  the  most  charming  voices  in 
society.  It  will  help  also  at  times  to  put  a  disagreeable 
and  an  agreeable  tone  in  direct  contrast.  The  most 
helpful  of  all  exercises  is  to  endeavor  to  express  ade- 
quately the  most  ideal  and  exalted  poetry. 

Specific  exercises  can  be  given  for  dullness  of  ear  in 
the  recognition  of  qualities.  These  especially  should  be 
given  to  students  whose  voices  are  throaty,  nasal,  hard, 
or  cold.  The  former  set  of  exercises  will  chiefly  help 
those  who  are  monotonous,  and  aid  in  giving  that  variety 
which  is  characteristic  of  conversation.  The  two,  how- 
ever, generally  go  together. 

Among  the  exercises  adapted  to  develop  a  sense  of 
tone   color  are  especially  individual  words 
taken  from   different   poems,   such  as  the  sense  of  vi-' 
word  "  come  "  (exercise  68).    Others  can  be 
easily   arranged,    such   as   the   exclamation   "  ah "   or 
"  oh  "  expressing  different  emotions.    Two  poems  may 
be  rendered  widely  different  in  contrast.    I  have  found 
also  one  of  the  most  potent  is  to  take  some  sudden 
transition,  and  have  the  student  observe  not  only  the 
great  change  in  pitch  and  in  movement,  but  also  in  the 
very  color  of  the  tone. 

Tears,  idle  tears,  I  know  not  what  they  mean, 
Tears  from  the  depth  of  some  divine  despair 
Rise  in  the  heart,  and  gather  to  the  eyes, 
In  looking  on  the  happy  autumn  fields, 
And  thinking  of  the  days  that  are  no  more. 

Fresh  as  the  first  beam  glittering  on  a  sail, 
That  brings  our  friends  up  from  the  under  world 
Sad  as  the  last  which  reddens  over  one 
That  sinks  with  all  we  love  below  the  verge,  — 
So  sad,  so  fresh,  the  days  that  are  no  more. 
44  Tears,  Idle  Tears  "  Alfred  Tennyson. 


232  MIND   AND   VOICE 


XVIH.    SONG  AND  SPEECH 

In  the  phenomena  of  variation  of  pitch  or  the  functions 
of  the  vocal  bands,  we  observe  two  distinct  modula- 
tions which  seem  to  be  widely  separated.  They  are 
those  of  speaking  and  of  singing. 

These  functions  should  be  carefully  distinguished  from 
each  other.  'The  difference  between  them  seems  so 
great  that  many  talk  of  "  the  speaking  voice  and  the 
singing  voice,"  as  if  the  two  resulted  from  different 
mechanisms.  This  is  not  true.  As  Lamperti  used  to 
say,  "  we  do  not  have  two  voices,  a  singing  and  a  speak- 
ing voice,  but  one  voice  which  we  use  in  singing  and 
speaking."  The  difference  between  its  use  in  singing 
and  in  speaking  is,  after  all,  in  its  elemental  difference 
of  modulation,  quite  simple. 

I.    ELEMENTAL      VOCAL      ACTIONS     IN     SINGING     AND 
SPEAKING. 

To  understand  adequately  the  difference  between  the 
actions  of  the  voice  in  speech  and  in  song,  let  us  com- 
pare carefully  the  primary  elements  of  each. 

In  song  successive  sound  waves,  during  the  emission 
of  the  tone,  are  of  the  same  length,  while  in  speech,  the 
length  of  the  successive  sound  waves,  is  constantly 
varying. 

Change  in  the  length  of  sound  waves,  that  is,  of  pitch 
during  the  emission  of  tone,  is  called  inflexion.  This 
primary  element  in  speech  is  practically  never  heard  in 
song.  A  sound  given  on  one  pitch,  that  is,  with  the  suc- 
cessive sound  waves  of  the  same  length,  is  the  funda- 
mental element  in  song,  this  is  never  heard  hi  natural 
speech. 

How  can  phenomena  so  widely  separated  in  human 
art  result  from  such  a  slight  difference? 

In  song  a  note  may  be  long  or  short.    This  is  also  true 


LENGTH   OF   THE   SOUND   WAVES  233 

of  an  inflexion  in  speech,  but  the  effect  is  entirely  differ- 
ent. They  express  totally  unlike  actions  or  conditions 
of  mind.  An  inflexion  has  modulations  not  possible 
to  a  note  of  the  voice  in  singing;  it  may  be  rising  or 
falling,  gradual  or  abrupt,  crooked  or  straight.  None 
of  these  have  any  analogy  in  the  actions  of  the  voice  in 
song.  A  song  can  be  indicated  by  a  score;  hundreds 
may  sing  a  melody  in  concert,  the  director  bringing  it 
forth  by  training  them  and  making  such  modulations  as 
change  of  time  and  degrees  of  force.  All  these  elements 
are  few  compared  with  speech,  and  speech  tones  have  no 
objective  symbols  or  score.  In  song  the  voice  changes 
suddenly  from  one  note  to  another  causing  what  is 
called  an  interval.  Similar  intervals  are  also  present  in 
all  conversation.  In  fact,  a  change  of  pitch  between 
successive  words  and  inflexions,  which  is  a  change  dur- 
ing the  utterance  of  the  vowel  itself,  constitutes  the 
chief  element  of  naturalness  in  speech. 

Again  observe  the  difference  in  pauses.  Speech  has  a 
vast  number  of  them.  The  more  earnest  the  speaker, 
the  more  he  pauses  for  the  reception  of  what  he  is  going 
to  say;  and  we  also  pause  freely  for  emphasis.  In  song 
the  pause  is  rare ;  the  use  of  tones  is  continuous.  Breath 
by  the  singer  must  be  taken  instantaneously,  quickly, 
and  in  a  way  that  will  be  least  observable;  in  speech 
the  taking  of  breath  is  always  co-ordinated  with  the  re- 
ception of  an  impression  by  the  mind.  Possibly  this 
should  be  the  case  in  song,  but  there  is  less  occasion 
for  the  reception  of  an  impression  in  this,  since  it  does 
not  express  individual  ideas  discriminatively  as  does 
speech. 

Those  who  try  to  improve  speech  by  definitely  measur- 
ing by  musical  intervals  determining  the  length  of  the 
inflexions  always  make  speech  mechanical.  While 
every  modulation  or  its  variation  has  a  definite  meaning 
which  must  be  regarded,  it  is  not  studied  hi  order  to 


234  MIND   AND   VOICE 

make  it  fixed,  or  to  set  up  the  modulations  of  one  person 
as  the  standard,  or  to  teach  inflexion  by  imitation. 

Elocutionists  have  also  endeavored  to  mark  by  a 
series  of  mechanical  signs  all  the  phenomena  of  speech. 
Many  teachers  have  contended  that  it  was  possible  to 
indicate  modulations  of  voice  in  speech  as  definitely  as 
in  song. 

Such  a  view  entirely  overlooks  the  specific  differences 
between  the  objective  character  of  the  art  of  song  and 
the  subjective  and  personal  nature  of  speech.  A  little 
observation  will  show  this  difference. 

Speech  is  free,  even  the  directions  of  inflexions  can- 
not be  fixed  by  rule,  to  say  nothing  of  the  variations  in 
length  and  degrees  of  abruptness.  A  sentence  may  be 
spoken  often,  either  with  rising  or  falling  inflexions, 
and  while  there  will  be  a  difference  in  meaning,  the  sense 
of  the  words  is  not  perverted.  Variations  in  length  and 
abruptness  may  be  infinite,  without  changing  the  thought, 
but  indicating  only  degrees  of  earnestness  or  control  or 
emphasis.  Speaking  is  less  mechanical  and  artificial. 
Subconscious  thoughts,  imaginations,  and  feelings  must 
dominate  it.  It  is  the  language  of  instinct,  and  its  devel- 
opment requires  that  its  primary  character  shall  in  no 
way  be  changed. 

How  can  all  the  most  complex  phenomena  of  speech 
be  developed?  By  finding  and  exercising  its  fundamen- 
tals. As  hi  all  other  phenomena,  we  find  a  few  essen- 
tials. Training,  to  be  effective,  as  already  indicated, 
must  always  be  directed  to  the  development  of  elemental 
actions.  These  are  the  basis  of  naturalness. 

The  difference  between  song  and  speech  should  be 
Exercise  77.  realized  by  the  student.  The  instinctive 
rleifflnsong  feeling  of  the  difference  is  illustrated  by  the 
and  speech,  following  poem,  as  the  speaker  expresses  his 
own  ideas  and  when  he  quotes  and  tells  what  is  in  the 
song.  It  is  difficult  to  explain  the  contrast  in  words, 


LENGTH    OF   THE   SOUND   WAVES  235 

but  the  inflexions  and  the  intervals  are  longer  and 
change  more  abruptly  in  one  part  while  in  the  other 
they  are  more  gradual  and  regular.  The  color  of  tone 
especially  suggests  something  of  the  sustained  feeling 
of  song.  To  my  mind  there  is  a  difference  here  which 
is  deeper  than  imitation.  To  sing  literally  the  song  as 
some  public  readers  would  be  inclined  to  do  would  spoil 
the  poetry. 

I  heard  a  soldier  sing  some  trifle 
Out  in  the  sun-dried  veldt  alone ; 

He  lay  and  cleaned  his  grimy  rifle 
Idly,  behind  a  stone. 

"  If  after  death,  love,  comes  a-waking, 
And  in  their  camp  so  dark  and  still 

The  men  of  dust  hear  bugles  breaking 
Their  halt  upon  the  hill, 

"  To  me  the  slow  and  silver  pealing 
That  then  the  last  high  trumpet  pours 

Shall  softer  than  the  dawn  come  stealing 
For,  with  its  call,  comes  yours!  " 

What  grief  of  love  had  he  to  stifle, 

Basking  so  idly  by  his  stone, 
That  grimy  soldier  with  his  rifle 

Out  in  the  veldt,  alone? 
"  I  Heard  a  Soldier  "  Herbert  Trench. 

Sing  also  some  familiar  song  and  then  read  it  and 
endeavor  to  give  the  same  feeling.  Observe  the  differ- 
ence in  the  mental  and  emotional  action  as  well  as  in 
the  expression. 

'TIS  THE  LAST  ROSE  OF  SUMMER. 

JT  is  the  last  rose  of  summer  left  blooming  alone ; 
All  her  lovely  companions  are  faded  and  gone ; 
No  flower  of  her  kindred,  no  rosebud  is  nigh, 
To  reflect  back  her  blushes,  to  give  sigh  for  sigh. 

I  '11  not  leave  thee,  thou  lone  one,  to  pine  on  the  stem: 
Since  the  lovely  are  sleeping,  go  sleep  thou  with  them. 
Thus  kindly  I  scatter  thy  leaves  o'er  the  bed, 
Where  thy  mates  of  the  garden  lie  scentless  and  dead. 


236  MIND   AND   VOICE 

So  soon  may  I  follow,  when  friendships  decay, 
And  from  Love's  shining  circle  the  gems  drop  away ! 
When  true  hearts  lie  withered  and  fond  ones  are  flown, 
Oh !  who  would  inhabit  this  bleak  world  alone? 

Thomas  Moore. 

II.   SHOULD  SPEECH  AND  SONG  BE  STUDIED  TOGETHER. 

Students  in  every  phase  of  art  should  become  con- 
scious of  other  arts,  especially  those  close  akin  to  the 
one  they  are  studying.  A  man  of  culture  is  one  who 
can  appreciate  the  point  of  view  of  every  art.  Each  art 
gives  a  distinct  point  of  view,  says  something  no  other 
can  say.  The  mental  actions  are  different;  the  cause 
is  different.  All  the  arts  are  modes  of  expression ;  hence, 
they  are  akin;  they  are  founded  upon  the  basic  expres- 
sion in  living  speech. 

Especially  do  we  find  help  in  comparing  speaking  with 
singing.  "  Music,"  says  Harry  Collins  Deacon,  "  does 
precisely  what  words  do  not  do.  It  represents  a  state 
of  thought  and  feeling,  more  or  less  continuous,  awakened 
by  the  statement  of  facts  —  a  brooding  over  what  has 
been  said  after  the  words  are  supposed  to  have  ceased. 
Hence  the  propriety  of  prolonging  syllables  and  re- 
peating words,  which  the  cynically  disposed  are  often 
inclined  to  ridicule  as  opposed  to  reason  and  common- 
sense.  This  inclination  to  ignore  the  high  office  of  music 
(that  of  expounding  what  passes  in  the  mind  and  soul) 
is  one  great  cause  of  the  frequent  tameness  of  English 
singing;  and  this  same  tameness  it  is  that  in  reality 
makes  singing  at  times  ridiculous  and  opposed  to  reason 
and  common  sense.  And  if  this  higher  view  of  music 
in  singing  is  not  to  be  taken  —  if  all  that  is  to  be  looked 
for  is  a  rhythmical  tune  —  then  by  all  means  let  it  be 
played  upon  an  instrument,  as  the  intonation  will  be 
safe,  provided  the  instrument  be  in  tune ;  and  the  head 
may  nod,  and  the  feet  may  tap,  the  ear  will  be  tickled 
and  the  soul  unruffled." 


LENGTH   OF  THE  SOUND  WAVES  237 

Here  we  have  a  suggestion  as  to  the  degradation  of 
singing  in  our  time  and  it  is  similar  to  that  which  has 
degraded  elocution.  The  singer  looks  upon  his  work 
as  a  mere  technical  performance  like  a  mechanical 
instrument.  Elocutionists  too  often  try  to  do  the  same 
with  speech.  The  remedy  for  these  defects  is  to  find 
the  mental  cause  of  speaking  and  singing.  Speaking 
reveals  the  discursive  intellect,  the  sequence  of  the  mind 
in  thinking  and  feeling,  the  successive  realizations  and 
impressions.  Song  reveals  the  deeper  mood.  As  paint- 
ing is  an  art  which  demands  intensity  of  gaze  and  may 
reveal  a  whole  situation,  and  even  a  whole  age,  by  one 
simple  scene,  so  song  reveals  the  deep  feeling  or  realiza- 
tion of  a  situation.  Words  must  move  on  and  leap  by 
a  sudden  transition,  but  song  is  the  staying  of  the  mind 
upon  a  scene  with  feeling  too  deep  for  words.  Impres- 
sions succeed  each  other,  but  they  must  do  so  very 
slowly. 

Accordingly,  speech  in  one  sense  is  more  subjective 
and  song  more  objective.  Speech  is  more  intellectual; 
song  more  emotional.  The  objective  form  in  song  is 
more  pronounced,  more  observable,  because  it  embodies 
a  less  observable  truth.  From  the  psychological  point 
of  view  they  marvelously  complement  each  other; 
from  a  technical  point  of  view  they  also  throw  light  upon 
each  other.  Both  of  them  must  be  improved  by  stimu- 
lating the  cause.  The  student  of  singing  must  come 
into  a  conscious  realization  of  the  artistic  point  of  view 
of  his  art.  Few  do  this.  Few  study  enough  into  poetry 
and  literature  and  realize  the  point  of  view  of  lyric 
poetry  which  is  closest  to  song  of  all  verbal  languages. 
The  student  of  speaking  must  also  realize  this  lyric 
point  of  view,  the  importance  of  the  individual  impres- 
sion. While  he  must  speak  and  repeat  a  succession  of 
impressions,  each  must  be  a  true  impression,  and  the 
weakness  of  most  speakers  is  not  merely  in  the  lack  of 


238  MIND   AND  VOICE 

contrast  of  different  impressions  but  more  in  a  failure 
to  realize  deeply  the  depth  of  the  individual  impression. 
A  right  study  of  song  will  greatly  aid  him  in  discovering 
the  possibilities  of  deep  impressions. 

Hence  the  teacher  of  speaking  must  know  song.  He 
must  not  accept  the  narrow  conception  that  speech  is 
noise.  It  may  be  the  sublimest  music,  for  sound  is  musi- 
cal in  proportion  to  the  regularity  of  its  sound  waves. 
Certainly  there  can  be  regularity  in  variations  even  in 
inflexions.  Professor  Jebb  says  in  his  "  Attic  Orators," 
that  the  noblest  music  he  can  imagine  is  Demosthenes's 
"  Oration  on  the  Crown." 

There  is  need  of  a  triple  division  if  we  are  to  accept 
the  narrow  definition  of  music.  Certainly  ignoble  speech 
is  noisy,  but  the  more  pleasing  speech  is  the  less  there 
is  of  noise  and  the  same  is  true  of  song.  In  the  develop- 
ment of  song  there  is  a  certain  objectivity  that  furnishes 
helpful  standards  to  the  teacher  of  speaking.  Com- 
parison of  the  two  will  enable  him  to  realize  a  higher 
ideal  of  speech. 

Nor  must  the  teacher  of  song  be  tempted  to  think  that 
because  his  art  is  so  objective  it  is  merely  mechanical. 
It  is  natural  and  spontaneous.  Darwin  thought  in  the 
evolution  of  nature  that  song  was  first;  Herbert  Spen- 
cer regarded  speech  as  first  and  song  as  the  result  of 
emotionalized  speech.  We  need  not  enter  into  a  dis- 
cussion as  to  who  was  right,  but  certainly  both  song  and 
speech  are  natural.  A  little  child  will  croon  and  crow 
in  great  pleasure  over  the  sight  of  a  red  ball  suspended 
from  the  ceiling.  Children  invent  what  is  practically  song 
by  repeating  over  and  over  a  phrase  of  their  own  inven- 
tion. The  tune,  words,  and  thought  are  spontaneous. 

Men  like  M.  Jourdin  must  discover  that  they  speak 
in  prose.  The  development  of  artistic  prose  always 
follows  that  of  poetry  for  the  reason  that  the  latter  has 
a  definiteness  of  form.  Prose  is  more  like  speech  and 


LENGTH    OF  THE   SOUND   WAVES  239 

brings  us  closer  to  the  individual  heart;  but  no  one  will 
contend  that  beautiful  prose  is  not  a  phase  of  art. 

In  the  study  of  song  we  find  that  tone  color  is  often 
ignored  as  the  result  of  spontaneous  effects  of  feeling 
upon  the  secondary  vibration  of  the  voice.  The  same 
spontaneous  modulations  of  the  overtones  is  also  found 
in  speech.  Possibly  they  have  greater  freedom  in  speech 
than  in  song.  But  there  are  modulations  of  inflexion, 
changes  of  pitch  and  movement  which  in  speech  are 
absolutely  free  responses  to  mental  actions. 

Singing  is  the  using  of  the  human  voice  as  an  instru- 
ment co-ordinated  with  words,  expressing  exalted  feeling 
and  sustained  emotion,  while  speech  is  more  intellectual 
and  reveals  more  of  human  experience. 

It  is  most  astonishing  that  many  seem  to  regard  the 
voice  in  speech  as  unworthy,  if  not  incapable,  of  improve- 
ment. Not  only  is  the  training  of  the  voice  for  speech 
in  itself  as  important  as  in  song,  but  improvement  even 
in  song  depends  to  a  great  extent  upon  its  right  use  in 
speech.  By  attending  to  both  speech  and  song  in  train- 
ing, the  voice  can  be  far  more  adequately  and  speedily 
improved. 

There  is  no  way,  however,  to  compare  the  two  arts, 
and  certainly  the  lover  of  one  must  never  disparage  the 
other.  One  is  strong  where  the  other  is  weak.  Both 
can  express  the  highest  flights  of  human  imagination 
and  the  deepest  throb  of  human  feeling. 

So  intimately  are  the  two  associated  that  they  should 
never  be  completely  separated.  Among  the  Greeks 
everyone  was  taught  to  sing.  This  is  sneered  at  even 
by  so  able  a  scholar  as  Professor  Mahaffey.  That  a 
great  scholar  should  fail  to  realize  the  naturalness  of 
song  is  a  proof  of  the  inartistic  character  of  our  age. 
Song  is  as  natural  to  the  vocal  cords  as  speech.  It  is  as 
natural  a  mode  of  expressing  feeling.  One  child  will 
be  much  slower  in  learning  to  speak  than  another,  and 


240  MIND   AND   VOICE 

the  same  is  true  in  song.  There  is  a  difference  of  facul- 
ties, powers,  and  quickness  in  response  to  teaching,  but 
this  is  as  much  in  one  case  as  in  the  other. 

The  chief  and  almost  the  only  means  of  finding  the 
real  nature  of  expression  must  be  in  speech.  The  smile, 
the  simple  inflexion,  and  the  spontaneous  variation  of 
pitch,  —  in  these  are  found  the  great  laws  of  naturalness 
in  expression.  If  the  singer  in  his  more  objective  and 
accentuated  art  has  not  found  the  real  control  or  com- 
mand of  his  expression  in  speech,  how  can  he  master 
expression  in  the  art  of  song? 

This  is  often  forgotten.  It  is  through  a  study  of  man's 
action  and  speech  in  everyday  life,  that  the  basis  for 
expression  is  found.  Song  would  be  less  artificial  if 
the  student  should  master  the  real  nature  of  expression. 

The  term  "  expression  "  in  any  art  is  more  or  less  bor- 
rowed from  such  a  simple  natural  expression  as  a  smile. 
Without  the  mastery  of  the  spoken  word  there  can  be 
no  true  expressiveness  in  singing,  music,  painting,  or 
sculpture. 

In  the  improvement  of  the  voice  attention  should  be 
given  to  both  speaking  and  singing,  because  though  the 
faults  are  not  the  same,  nor  the  modulations,  yet  the 
management  of  the  breath,  the  fundamental  conditions 
of  tone  apply  to  both.  The  study  of  song  brings  us  into 
consciousness  of  certain  conditions  which  are  important 
not  only  to  song  but  to  speech.  The  study  of  the  voice 
in  speaking  gives  a  similar  help  to  singing.  When  a 
person  begins  to  sing  he  feels  as  a  rule  that  he  must 
make  a  far  greater  effort.  He  must  have  more  breath; 
he  cramps  his  face  and  his  whole  throat,  and  this  makes 
the  tone  labored.  At  my  first  lesson  with  Mr.  William 
Shakespeare,  he  took  up  a  book  and  handed  it  to  me, 
saying,  as  he  struck  a  note:  "Repeat  this  sentence  as 
you  would  in  talking,  only  keep  this  pitch." 

The  chief  element  of  song  differing  from  speech  is  the 


LENGTH    OF  THE   SOUND   WAVES  241 

fixing  of  the  pitch.  The  student  must  endeavor  to  speak 
or  sing  words  with  all  the  ease  of  conversation.  He  can 
hardly  be  reminded  too  frequently  that  all  unnecessary 
constrictions  of  the  forehead  and  face  have  a  reflex 
influence  on  the  throat  and  must  be  eliminated  if  the 
voice  is  to  improve.  On  the  other  hand,  in  song,  on  ac- 
count of  the  sustaining  of  the  tone  on  one  pitch,  the  right 
action  of  the  breath,  especially  its  sympathetic  retention, 
can  be  better  studied  and  developed.  While  in  speaking 
we  may  observe  the  naturalness  of  breathing,  yet  to  make 
this  breathing  conscious  and  to  accentuate  it  and  increase 
the  amount,  the  simple  prolonging  of  the  tone  is  one  of 
the  most  effective  methods. 

In  song,  on  account  of  the  sustaining  of  the  tone,  the 
quality  may  be  observed  more  carefully.  The  pupil  may 
be  made  conscious  of  its  purity  or  impurity.  Nasality, 
throatiness,  flatness,  and  the  constrictions  that  cause 
these  faults,  may  be  observed. 

In  speech  the  subconscious,  spontaneous,  and  in- 
voluntary actions  of  the  voice  can  be  better  studied.  In 
recent  years  the  best  teachers  of  singing  continually 
refer  to  the  actions  of  the  voice  in  speech  in  order  to 
find  the  real  voice  of  the  pupil,  the  actual  faults  and  the 
tendencies  to  ideal  expression. 

The  isolation  of  song  from  speech  is  apt  to  make  the 
singer  cold,  mechanical,  or  careless  in  articulation. 
One  who  has  never  studied  singing  fails  to  recognize 
the  importance  of  retention  of  the  breath,  right  vocal 
quantity,  and  freedom  and  openness  of  the  tone.  He 
hardly  knows  his  voice  who  has  not  compared  its  action 
in  speech  with  its  tones  hi  singing. 

The  common  neglect  of  speech  is  seen  in  the  fact  that 
a  man  will  say  he  cannot  read  a  hymn  or  the  words  of 
a  song  on  account  of  the  tune  running  in  his  mind.  This 
is  to  confess  that  there  is  no  mental  realization  of  the 
melody  in  speech.  Before  a  person  can  sing  a  great 


242  MIND   AND   VOICE 

song  he  should  put  the  words  and  the  thought  into  the 
melody  of  speech.  This  will  insure  his  having  the  right 
expression.  Such  views  only  show  the  great  neglect  of 
the  true  art  of  song  as  well  as  of  speech. 


XIX.    AGILITY  OF  THE  VOICE  IN  SPEAKING 

"  All  art,"  said  Goethe,  "  must  be  preceded  by  a 
certain  mechanical  expertness."  There  are  many 
phases  of  this  facility  in  the  artistic  use  of  the  voice. 
That  form  of  expertness  most  easily  distinguished  by  the 
majority  of  people  is  the  power  to  vary  the  pitch.  So 
important  is  this  in  voice  modulations  that  it  is  neces- 
sary to  develop  facility  in  performing  this  primary  func- 
tion. In  all  training  the  development  of  the  responsive 
conditions  of  all  parts  to  the  mind  must  be  considered 
fundamental. 

A  condition  favorable  to  activity  is  synonymous  with 
life.  Since  all  expression  is  activity  of  being  in  action 
of  body,  a  condition  of  any  agent  favorable  to  movement, 
modulation,  or  variation  is  also  favorable  to  expression. 
To  establish  such  natural  and  flexible  conditions  is  one 
of  the  chief  aims  of  training. 

The  lack  of  possibility  of  modulation  in  the  voice  which 
is  first  noticed  is  a  certain  stiffness  or  limitation  of  the 
possibility  of  changing  pitch. 

The  causes  of  rigidity  and  unresponsiveness  on  the 
(part  of  the  organism  are  innumerable.  They  may  be 
due  to  health,  climate,  and  environment,  to  conscious  or 
unconscious  imitation,  to  repression,  wrong  actions  of 
the  mind,  lack  of  will,  absence  of  self-control,  or  to  want 
of  imagination  and  feeling  or  the  right  development  of 
the  higher  nature. 

Accordingly,  the  first  phase  of  responsiveness  to  be 
discussed  will  be  agility.  Agility  may  be  defined  as 
facility  by  any  agent  to  discharge  its  elemental  actions. 


LENGTH    OF   THE   SOUND   WAVES  243 

Without  a  responsive    condition   of    the  organism  the 
actions  of  the  mind  may  fail  to  modulate  the  voice. 

The  proper  place  to  begin  the  study  of  agility  and 
development  is  in  natural  speech.  The  everyday  modu- 
lations of  the  voice  in  conversation  show,  in  almost 
everyone,  marked  conditions  of  flexibility. 

The  chief  characteristic  of  natural  conversation  is  a 
constant  varying  of  pitch.  The  voice  leaps  freely  in 
talking  from  word  to  word.  Every  word  is  upon  a  dif- 
ferent pitch,  and  the  .  variation  seems  almost  lawless. 
Yet  every  one  of  these  modulations,  every  variation 
of  pitch,  as  well  as  inflexion,  has  a  psychological  cause. 

A  study  of  conversation  also  leads  us  to  realize  that 
when  a  person  speaks  chaotically,  making  his  voice 
change  pitch  by  mere  volition  independent  of  the  free 
variation  of  the  mind  there  is  a  violation  of  naturalness. 
Such  chaos,  however,  is  rare.  Even  children  vary  the 
pitch  of  the  voice  in  direct  response  to  the  discriminative 
action  of  the  mind.  Variation  of  ideas  so  directly  causes 
change  of  pitch  that  the  latter  becomes  subconscious  if 
not  involuntary  or  spontaneous. 

The  most  common  fault  in  all  speaking  is  monotony,  a 
speaking  on  the  same  key,  and  losing  the  free  and  flexible 
variations  of  the  voice.  This  is  found  sometimes  in 
conversation,  but  frequently  in  reading  and  public 
speaking. 

Why  are  we  natural  in  conversation,  while  in  public 
address,  reading,  or  reciting,  we  are  apt  to  lose  all  the 
flexible  variations  of  conversation?  It  is  because  in 
the  former  case  we  are  genuinely  thinking,  while  in  the 
latter  we  are  calling  words.  Remembrance  of  ideas 
and  words  does  not  awaken  the  creative  actions  of  the 
mind.  The  mind  drifts  from  phrase  to  phrase,  or  from 
word  to  word  and  does  not  first  concentrate  or  receive 
the  connexion  and  then  choose  the  word  that  will  rep- 
resent this.  Hence  the  voice  is  not  directly  modulated 


244  MIND   AND   VOICE 

by  the  processes  of  thinking  and  feeling.  In  conversa- 
tion the  mind  is  freely  concentrated  upon  successive 
ideas.  Impression  precedes  and  determines  expression. 
The  mind  associates  one  idea  with  another,  makes  dis- 
criminations and  contrasts  between  ideas,  and  performs 
a  great  many  variations  in  point  of  view,  to  say  nothing 
of  the  different  emotions  and  emotional  responses,which 
directly  cause  voice  modulations. 

In  all  conversation  we  can  distinguish  two  classes  of 
variation  in  pitch:  one  consists  of  intervals  between 
phrases  and  words ;  the  other  of  inflexions  or  variations 
of  pitch  hi  uttering  the  accented  vowel  of  a  word. 
Changes  of  pitch  between  phrases  and  words  mark 
mental  changes  in  passing  from  one  object  of  attention 
to  another ;  inflexion,  or  a  bend  of  the  voice  upward  or 
downward  upon  the  accented  vowel  of  the  word,  reveals 
the  logical  connection  of  the  ideas  with  each  other. 

I.   INFLEXIONAL  AGILITY. 

The  most  common  phase  of  agility  in  speech,  and  one 
of  the  first  to  receive  attention,  is  inflexion.  Inflexional 
modulation  is  a  universal  characteristic  of  all  speech. 

In  general,  we  may  say  that  inflexion  reveals  the  atti- 
tude of  the  mind.  It  indicates  question  or  answer  on  the 
part  of  the  speaker.  It  shows  the  relation  of  the  idea 
he  is  uttering  to  other  ideas  or  to  the  listener,  and  gives 
words  definiteness  of  value  in  relation  to  other  minds. 
It  also  reveals  the  depth  of  earnestness  or  degree  of 
seriousness  on  the  part  of  the  speaker. 

One  of  the  first  steps  in  the  study  of  inflexion  is  to 
recognize  the  complex  variations  of  everyday  speech. 
Although  universal  and  a  part  of  ordinary  conversation, 
the  presence  and  meaning  of  these  inflexions  are  often 
overlooked. 

Take  a  short  sentence,  such  as  "John  never  said  that," 
and  indicate  a  variety  of  meanings.  For  example,  accen- 


LENGTH   OF   THE    SOUND   WAVES  245 

uate  "  John  "  so  as  to  suggest  that  someone  else  may 
have  said  it;  then  the  word  "  never  "  in  a  way  to  indicate 
that  John  could  not  have  said  it,  though  someone  else 
may  claim  he  did.  So  inflect  "  said  "  as  to  indicate  that 
John  might  have  looked  it  or  wanted  to  say  it  but  did  not. 
Give  such  an  inflexion  to  "  that "  as  to  suggest  that 
though  he  did  not  say  this  he  said  something  else. 

Examine  carefully  the  way  such  sentences  are  spoken, 
or  the  modulations  necessary  to  express  the  specific 
point  or  meaning  in  each  case.  To  speak  such  a  sentence 
as  a  whole,  without  inflexion,  merely  presents  words  as 
words.  Such  changes  in  meaning  as  above  suggested, 
are  expressed,  as  a  rule,  by  giving  a  long  falling  inflexion 
to  the  different  words  in  succession.  That  is,  the  centre 
of  attention  is  changed  in  the  different  renderings. 

The  student  should  take  many  simple  sentences,  such 
as  "  May  I  come  in?  "  "  He  never  saw  me  at  his  house," 
and  vary  them  as  naturally  as  in  conversation.  This 
trains  the  ear,  and  makes  one  conscious  of  the  language 
of  inflexions. 

In  speaking  such  a  sentence  the  inflexions  may  be 
kept  exactly  the  same  while  varying  the  tone  color. 
This  will  show  still  greater  variety  of  meaning. 

Every  change  in  thought  or  attitude  of  mind  causes  a 
change  in  the  inflexion.  The  least  modification  or  varia- 
tion expresses  a  new  meaning.  The  most  decided 
change  is  in  direction.  This  can  be  indicated  in  the  above 
illustrations  by  keeping  the  natural  inflexion  at  the  same 
spot.  A  change  from  falling  to  rising  will  then  enable 
one  to  realize  the  meaning  of  direction  of  inflexion. 

No  rules  founded  on  grammatical  relation  of  words, 
or  phraseology,  explains  the  meaning  of  inflexion.  It  is 
a  distinct  language  and  its  presence  is  due  to  a  definite 
attitude  of  the  mind  of  a  thinker.  It  reveals  primarily 
the  processes  of  thinking  and  is  a  sign  not  a  symbol. 

If  we  compare  speech  with  song,  inflexions  mark  the 


246  MIND   AND   VOICE 

chief  difference.  Only  a  little  observation  shows  the 
voice  to  be  far  more  flexible  in  conversation  than  in  sing- 
ing. Sustained  tone  conditions,  with  definite  relation  of 
intervals  according  to  a  melody  or  tune,  may  reveal  the 
deeper  moods  and  feelings,  but  all  the  subtle  distinc- 
tions, contrasts,  and  flexible  variations  of  the  mind  in 
thinking  are  revealed  by  inflexions  of  speech. 

Mastery  of  inflexion  is  the  basis  of  naturalness  and 
effectiveness  in  speaking.  Its  importance  as  an  element 
of  motor  training,  as  an  aid  to  securing  even  agility  in 
song,  has  not  been  rightly  estimated. 

The  student  will  find  material  for  serious  study  in  the 
attempt  to  realize  the  meaning  of  the  simplest  inflexions 
of  a  child.  The  psychology  of  this  instinctive  language, 
the  explanation  and  conscious  realization  of  the  inflex- 
ional variations  in  revealing  the  value  of  every  word  in 
the  true  interpretation  of  some  poem,  or  even  sentence, 
require  careful,  persevering  observations.  Mastery  of  it, 
however,  will  give  command  of  voice,  self-knowledge, 
and  a  better  method  in  thinking. 

Another  means  of  distinguishing  the  presence  of  in- 
Exercise  78  flexi°n>  *s  *°  render  words  which  are  merely 
the  echo,  imitation,  or  representation  of 


some  sound.  It  is  better  to  use  these  at 
some  point  in  direct  contrast  with  a  phrase  that  expresses 
an  idea  in  the  usual  way.  Render,  for  example,  as  ade- 
quately as  possible,  the  following  lines,  and  note  the 
great  difference  between  the  words  supposed  to  repre- 
sent the  bells  of  the  flowers  in  the  first  and  the  hammer 
in  the  second  and  the  following  phrases.  "  Ting-a- 
ring-ting  "  is  given  on  one  pitch  as  simply  imita- 
tive of  the  sound  of  a  bell;  while  the  other  words 
express  a  thought.  In  the  imitative  words  "  Clang, 
clang  "  there  are  no  inflexions,  but  whenever  words 
express  a  process  of  thinking,  inflexions  are  absolutely 
necessary. 


LENGTH    OF   THE   SOUND   WAVES  247 

Hark!  hark!  to  the  robin;  its  magical  call 
Awakens  the  flowerets  that  slept  in  the  dells ; 

The  snow-drop,  the  primrose,  the  hyacinth,  all, 
Attune  to  its  summons  their  silvery  bells. 

Hush!  ting-a-ring-ting,  don't  you  hear  how  they  ring? 

They  are  pealing  a  fairy-like  welcome  to  spring. 

Clang,  clang!  the  massive  anvils  ring. 
Clang,  clang !  a  hundred  hammers  swing. 
From  "  The  Song  of  the  Forge  "  Wot  known. 

While  the  discussion  of  these,  and  especially  their 
meaning,  belongs  to  vocal  expression,  it  is  necessary  in 
developing  agility  of  inflexions  to  understand  something 
of  their  variety  and  character. 

Inflexions  have  seemingly  innumerable  variations, 
but  we  can  divide  these  into  four  classes.  They  vary 
in  direction,  length,  degree  of  abruptness,  and  degree  of 
straightness.  Every  one  of  these  has  an  important 
meaning.  Direction  is  the  most  notable  element  or 
variation  of  inflexion.  In  uttering  a  vowel  the  sound 
waves  may  be  shortened  during  the  emission  of  the 
sound,  thus  causing  a  rising  inflexion  or  they  may 
lengthen  during  the  production  of  the  tone.  This  is 
called  a  falling  inflexion.  The  rising  of  the  voice  implies 
suspense,  incompleteness,  formality,  or  indifference; 
the  falling  inflexion  indicates  conviction,  assertion, 
certainty,  or  that  a  word  stands  for  a  central  idea. 

In  the  following  lines  from  Whittier  take  a  definite 
attitude  of  mind  toward  each  phrase,  orExercise79 
central  idea  hi  the  phrase.  For  example 
"  The  night "  may  be  given  with  a  decided 
rise  indicating  that  something  important  is  coming  in 
answer  to  a  question,  "  What  about  it?  "  The  "  mother 
of  the  day  "  will  be  given  a  decided  fall  on  the  central 
word  "  day,"  or  "  night  "  may  be  given  a  decided  falling 
inflexion,  implying  a  definite  assertion,  or  a  demand  for 
attention.  In  this  case  "  day "  will  also  receive  a 


248  MIND   AND   VOICE 

decided  fall  but  upon  a  different  pitch,  and  so  on,  through 
the  whole  extract.  Emphatic  inflexions  will  be  intro- 
duced which  are  different  from  each  other. 

The  night  is  mother  of  the  day, 

The  winter  of  the  spring; 
And  ever  upon  old  decay 

The  greenest  mosses  cling. 
Behind  the  cloud  the  sunshine  lurks, 

Through  showers  the  sunbeams  fall; 
For  God,  who  loveth  all  His  works, 

Has  left  His  hope  with  all. 

Whittier. 

In  the  third  line  from  the  last  of  the  following  notice 
the  long,  decided,  rising  inflexion,  as  if  with  astonishment 
and  surprise.  This,  however,  may  be  given  with  a 
decided  falling  inflexion.  Whether  all  words  here  are 
rising  or  all  falling,  or  part  rising  and  part  falling,  must 
depend  upon  the  attitude  of  the  speaker's  mind,  but 
decided  inflexions  of  some  kind  are  necessary. 

MY  GARDEN. 

A  garden  is  a  loveSome  thing,  God  wot  I 

Rose  plot, 
Fringed  pool, 
Ferned  grot  — 

The  veriest  school 
Of  peace ;  and  yet  the  fool 
Contends  that  God  is  not  — 
Not  God !  in  gardens !  when  the  eve  is  cool? 
Nay,  but  I  have  a  sign: 

'T  is  very  sure  God  walks  in  mine. 

T.  E.  Brown. 

A  prominent  teacher  once  said  to  me,  "  In  every  clause 
there  are  fifty  modulations  of  inflexion.  They  can  be 
improved  only  by  imitation.  There  is  no  way  by  which 
we  can  give  them  objective  representation." 

If  we  carefully  examine  the  phenomena  of  everyday 
speech  in  the  light  of  the  principles  here  unfolded,  we 


LENGTH   OF   THE   SOUND   WAVES  249 

find  that  while  there  may  be  fifty  modifications  of  in- 
flexion in  every  clause,  most  of  these  are  merely  acci- 
dental; while  only  a  few  fundamental  or  necessary 
actions  need  to  be  mastered;  and  the  more  definitely 
these  are  emphasized  the  better  the  inflexion,  the  more 
dignified  the  passage.  The  greater  number  of  these 
accidental  modifications  come  from  sarcasms  and  vari- 
ous undignified,  patronizing  insinuations.  Every  one  of 
the  accidental  elements  tends  to  be  circumflex  and  to 
lack  in  dignity. 

With  deaf  mutes  there  must  be  adopted  various  marks 
and  expedients  to  indicate  to  the  eye  or  the  sense  of 
touch  or  of  muscular  resistance,  what  the  voice  does. 
Every  student  should  take  as  definite  and  dignified  an 
attitude  as  possible.  He  should  vary  the  direction  of 
inflexions  with  every  successive  phrase;  give  his 
central  words  with  long  and  salient  inflexions ;  and  above 
all  keep  them  as  straight  as  he  possibly  can.  Not  only 
should  their  fundamentals  be  emphasized,  but  many 
of  the  accidentals  should  be  eliminated.  The  true  acci- 
dentals hi  inflexion  are  degrees  of  length,  abruptness, 
and  frequently  direction.  These  should  be  the  spon- 
taneous modulation  of  the  personal  feelings  and  thought, 
but  these  will  be  improved  indirectly  if  the  consciousness 
and  the  will  are  definitely  directed  to  the  practice  of  the 
fundamental  elements  of  inflexion. 

What  are  the  fundamental  modulations  of  inflexion 
in  speaking  some  natural  sentence?     Note  Exercise  80 
in  the  first  of  the  following  the  long,  falling  conversational 
inflexion    necessary    on    the    word    "  life." 
Notice  that  in  the  second  on  the  word  "  Julius  "  there 
may  be  either  a  long  falling  or  a  long  rising  inflexion. 
The  length  of  this  inflexion  of  the  central  word  is  the 
most  fundamental  element.    The  other  inflexions  of  the 
sentence  are  subordinate  to  this.    That  is,  before  this 
word  they  are  all  short,  rising  with  changes  of  pitch  be- 


250  MIND    AND   VOICE 

tween  them.  All  following  this  if  it  is  falling  are  also 
falling  but  short  and  on  a  lower  pitch,  while  if  this  central 
one  is  rising  they  are  also  rising,  but  short  and  on  a 
higher  pitch. 

The  good  shepherd  giveth  his  life  for  the  sheep. 

St.  John. 

Did  not  great  Julius  bleed  for  justice*  sake? 
"  Julius  Caesar  "  Shakespeare. 

These  elements  constitute  the  fundamental  character- 
istics of  naturalness  in  English  speech  and  in  all  work 
for  the  development  of  inflexion  they  should  be  kept  in 
mind.  While  their  study  belongs  to  vocal  expression  it 
is  necessary  to  realize  them  and  often  use  inflexions  as  a 
means  for  the  development  of  voice  conditions. 

Render  this  humorous  story  by  John  G.  Saxe,  making 
very  long  strong  inflexions  upon  the  central  word  of 
each  man's  opinion.  Observe  the  importance  of  inflexion 
hi  revealing  the  argument  of  this  or  any  passage. 

THE  BLIND  MEN  AND  THE  ELEPHANT. 

It  was  six  men  of  Indostan  to  learning  much  inclined,  who  went 
to  see  the  Elephant  (though  all  of  them  were  blind),  that  each  by 
observation  might  satisfy  his  mind.  The  First  approached  the 
Elephant,  and,  happening  to  fall  against  his  broad  and  sturdy  side, 
at  once  began  to  bawl:  "  God  bless  me,  but  the  Elephant  is  very 
like  a  wall."  The  Second,  feeling  of  the  tusk,  cried:  "  Ho,  what 
have  we  here  so  very  round  and  smooth  and  sharp?  To  me  't  is 
mighty  clear  this  wonder  of  an  Elephant  is  very  like  a  spear!  "  The 
Third  approached  the  animal,  and,  happening  to  take  the  squirm- 
ing trunk  within  his  hand,  thus  boldly  up  and  spake :  "  I  see," 
quoth  he,  "  the  Elephant  is  very  like  a  snake !  "  The  Fourth  reached 
out  his  eager  hand,  and  felt  about  the  knee.  "  What  most  this 
wondrous  beast  is  like  is  mighty  plain,"  quoth  he ;  "  'T  is  clear 
enough  the  Elephant  is  very  like  a  tree !  "  The  Fifth,  who  chanced 
to  touch  the  ear,  said,  "  E'en  the  blindest  man  can  tell  what  this 
resembles  most;  deny  the  fact  who  can,  this  marvel  of  an  Elephant 
is  very  like  a  fan!  "  The  Sixth  no  sooner  had  begun  about  the 
beast  to  grope,  than,  seizing  on  the  swinging  tail  that  fell  within  his 
scope,  "  I  see,"  quoth  he,  "  the  Elephant  is  very  like  a  rope !  "  And 


LENGTH    OF   THE   SOUND    WAVES  251 

SO  these  men  of  Indostan  disputed  loud  and  long,  each  in  his  own 
opinion  exceeding  stiff  and  strong,  though  each  was  partly  in  the 

right,  and  all  were  in  the  wrong! 

John  G.  Saxe. 

In  vocal  training  the  fundamental  aim  must  be  the 
establishment  of  inflexional  agility.  Inflexion  is  such  a 
primary  function  of  the  voice  that  it  affords  necessarily 
one  of  the  fundamental  exercises  in  vocal  development. 
At  this  point  in  the  development  of  facility  in  changing 
the  length  of  the  sound  waves  all  the  primary  conditions 
of  right  voice  production  need  to  be  reviewed,  to  be 
re-emphasized  and  more  definitely  mastered  in  the  prac- 
tice of  inflexions. 

What  are  the  special  conditions  of  voice  that  cause  a 
good  inflexion?  Careful  study  of  the  action  of  the  voice 
in  producing  one  truly  serves  to  show  us  anew  the  voice 
conditions  shown  to  be  fundamental. 

Let  the  student  make  a  simple  rising  inflexion,  with 
"  Ah,"  and  endeavor  to  make  it  straight  and  firm,  de- 
cided and  long,  and  he  will  at  once  find  the  necessity  of 
activity  in  the  middle  of  the  body,  relaxation  of  the  throat, 
an  easy,  sympathetic  retention  of  the  breath,  leaving 
the  vocal  bands  free  to  co-operate  with  the  breathing. 

A  great  variety  of  exercises  should  be  arranged  and 
faithfully  practiced.  Initiate  inflexions,  making  them 
rising  and  falling,  long  and  short,  abrupt  and  gradual, 
but  always  straight  and  with  a  definite  accentuation  of  the 
primary  conditions.  They  should  be  practiced  also  with 
various  consonants  before  vowels  and  with  various  words. 

Technical  exercises  with  inflexions  should  be  as  faith- 
fully and  earnestly  practiced  as  sustained  tones.  Perhaps, 
especially  by  speakers,  more  attention  should  be  given 
to  inflexional  initiation  than  to  that  on  a  fixed  pitch. 

The  real  action  that  produces  the  inflexion  is  in  the 
breath.  Though  it  is  a  product  of  the  vocal  bands,  yet 
the  energy  and  centre  of  the  volitional  action  must  be 


252  MIND   AND   VOICE 

in  the  breath.  The  vocal  bands  act  in  co-ordination. 
The  inflexion  receives  its  strength  and  solidity  from  the 
retention  of  the  breath.  It  cannot  be  free  and  easy 
without  support. 

Deeper  study  will  reveal  that  inflexion  is  not  a  me- 
chanical thing  but  the  direct  expression  of  an  attitude 
of  mind.  It  is  impossible  to  develop  inflexions  properly 
without  accentuating  their  mental  cause. 

Life  is  a  leaf  of  paper  white 
Whereon  each  one  of  us  may  write 
His  word  or  two,  and  then  comes  night. 
Greatly  begin !  though  thou  have  time 
But  for  a  line,  be  that  sublime,  — 
Not  failure,  but  low  aim,  is  crime. 
Ah,  with  what  lofty  hope  we  came ! 
But  we  forget  it,  dream  of  fame, 
And  scrawl,  as  I  do  here,  a  name. 

J.  R.  Lowell. 


Development  of  inflexional  agility  must  always  be  con- 
nected with  the  direct  exercise  of  energy  in 

Exercise  81* 

Agility  of  thinking  and  true  sympathy  in  feeling. 
Give  a  great  variety  of  selections  and  give 
as  definite  concentration  of  mind  upon  each  idea  as 
possible,  relating  it  at  the  same  time  to  the  listener  and 
to  what  is  supposed  to  follow  or  to  precede.  Take  a 
definite  attitude  of  mind  toward  an  idea,  simultaneous 
with  each  concentration.  This  will  give  definite  direc- 
tion to  inflexion  and  will  make  inflexions  the  direct 
effect  of  thinking.  Observe  in  all  inflexional  exercises 
that  the  vocal  conditions  are  emphasized,  especially 
support,  that  the  inflexions  are  straight,  long  and  definite, 
naturally  varied  and  made  with  perfect  ease. 

Life  is  real!    Life  is  earnest! 

And  the  grave  is  not  its  goal ; 
Dust  thou  art,  to  dust  returnest, 

Was  not  spoken  of  the  soul. 

Henry  W.  Longfellow. 


LENGTH    OF   THE    SOUND   WAVES  253 

I  cannot  look  upon  the  ocean  and  the  mountains  without  loving 
them;  and  I  am  greater  than  they,  because  I  can  do  so. 

Come  wealth  or  want,  come  good  or  ill, 

Let  young  and  old  accept  their  part, 
And  bow  before  the  awful  will, 

And  bear  it  with  an  honest  heart. 
Who  misses  or  who  wins  the  prize  — 

Go,  lose  or  conquer  as  you  can; 
But  if  you  fail,  or  if  you  rise, 

Be  each,  pray  God,  a  gentleman. 
"  The  End  of  the  Play  "  Thackeray. 

No  one  could  tell  me  where  my  soul  might  be. 
I  searched  for  God,  but  God  eluded  me. 

I  sought  my  Brother  out,  and  found  all  three. 
"  The  Search  "  Ernest  Crosby. 

It  is  well  also  to  contrast  extracts  expressing  dignity 
with  others  full  of  sarcasm,  colloquial  triviality,  double 
meaning,  conversational  ease  or  familiarity,  or  other 
attitudes  of  mind;  that  is,  it  is  well  to  exercise  straight 
and  circumflex  inflexions  in  contrast  in  order  to  avoid 
the  latter  or  to  employ  them  with  care.  In  the  following, 
for  example,  while  making  the  older  person  dignified 
and  intense,  do  not  make  the  child  undignified  with  too 
many  circumflex  inflexions.  Express  the  difference  in 
their  character  more  by  change  in  rhythm,  pitch,  and 
tone  color. 

THE  ORACLE. 

I  lay  upon  the  Summer  grass. 

A  gold-haired,  sunny  child  came  by, 
And  looked  at  me,  as  loath  to  pass, 

With  questions  in  her  lingering  eye. 

She  stopped  and  wavered,  then  drew  near, 
(Ah!  the  pale  gold  around  her  head!) 

And  o'er  my  shoulder  stooped  to  peer. 
"  Why  do  you  read?  "  she  said. 

"  I  read  a  poet  of  old  time, 
Who  sang  through  all  his  living  hours  — 

Beauty  of  earth  —  the  streams,  the  flowers  — 
And  stars,  more  lovely  than  his  rhyme. 


254  MIND    AND   VOICE 

"  And  now  I  read  him,  since  men  go, 
Forgetful  of  these  sweetest  things ; 

Since  he  and  I  love  brooks  that  flow, 
And  dawns,  and  bees,  and  flash  of  wings!  " 

She  stared  at  me  with  laughing  look, 

Then  clasped  her  hands  upon  my  knees : 
"  How  strange  to  read  it  in  a  book! 

I  could  have  told  you  all  of  these !  " 
1 '  The  Earth  Passion ' '  Arthur  Davison  Ficke. 


THE  COYOTE. 

The  coyote  of  the  farther  deserts  is  a  long,  slim,  sick,  and  sorry- 
looking  skeleton  with  a  gray  wolf-skin  stretched  over  it,  a  tolerably 
bushy  tail  that  forever  sags  down  with  a  despairing  expression  of 
forsakeness  and  misery,  a  furtive  and  evil  eye,  and  a  long,  sharp 
face,  with  slightly  lifted  lip  and  exposed  teeth. 

He  has  a  general  slinking  expression  all  over.  The  coyote  is  a 
living,  breathing  allegory  of  want.  He  is  always  hungry.  He  is 
always  poor,  out  of  luck,  and  friendless.  The  meanest  creatures 
despise  him,  and  even  the  fleas  would  desert  him  for  a  velocipede. 
He  is  so  spiritless  and  cowardly  that,  even  while  his  exposed  tSefh 
are  pretending  a  threat,  the  rest  of  his  face  is  apologizing  for  it. 
And  he  is  so  homely,  so  scrawny,  and  ribby,  and  coarse-haired,  and 
pitiful! 

When  he  sees  you  he  lifts  his  lip  and  lets  a  flash  of  his  teeth  out, 
and,  then  turns  a  little  out  of  the  course  he  was  pursuing,  depresses 
his  head  a  bit,  and  strikes  a  long,  soft-footed  trot  through  the  sage- 
brush, glancing  over  his  shoulder  at  you  from  time  to  time,  till  he 
is  about  out  of  easy  pistol-range,  and  then  he  stops  and  takes  a 
deliberate  survey  of  you.  He  will  trot  fifty  yards  and  stop  again: 
another  fifty,  and  stop  again:  and,  finally,  the  gray  of  his  gliding 
body  blends  with  the  gray  of  the  sage-brush,  and  he  disappears. 

But,  If  you  start  a  swift-footed  dog  after  him,  you  will  enjoy  it 
ever  so  much  —  especially  if  it  is  a  dog  that  has  a  good  opinion  of 
himself,  and  has  been  brought  up  to  think  that  he  knows  something 
about  speed.  The  coyote  will  go  swinging  gently  off  on  that  deceit- 
ful trot  of  his,  and  every  little  while  he  will  smile  a  fraudful  smile 
over  his  shoulder  that  will  fill  that  dog  entirely  full  of  encourage- 
ment and  worldly  ambition,  and  make  him  lay  his  head  still  lower 
to  the  ground  and  stretch  his  neck  farther  to  the  front,  and  pant 
more  fiercely,  and  move  his  furious  legs  with  a  yet  wilder  frenzy, 
and  leave  a  broader  and  broader  and  higher  and  denser  cloud  of 


LENGTH    OF   THE   SOUND   WAVES  255 

desert  sand  smoking  behind,  and  marking  his  long  wake  across  the 
level  plain! 

All  this  time  the  dog  is  only  a  short  twenty  feet  behind  the  coyote, 
and,  to  save  the  life  of  him,  he  cannot  understand  why  it  is  that  he 
cannot  get  perceptibly  closer;  and  he  begins  to  get  aggravated,  and 
it  makes  him  madder  and  madder  to  see  how  gently  the  coyote 
glides  along,  and  never  pants  or  sweats,  or  ceases  to  smile ;  and  he 
grows  still  more  and  more  incensed  to  see  how  shamefully  he  has 
been  taken  in  by  an  entire  stranger,  and  what  an  ignoble  swindle 
that  long,  calm,  soft-footed  trot  is. 

And  next  the  dog  notices  that  he  is  getting  fagged,  and  that  the 
coyote  actually  has  to  slacken  speed  a  little,  to  keep  from  running 
away  from  him.  And  then  that  town-dog  is  mad  in  earnest,  and  he 
begins  to  strain,  and  weep,  and  paw  the  sand  higher  than  ever,  and 
reach  for  the  coyote  with  concentrated  and  desperate  energy. 

This  spurt  finds  him  six  feet  behind  the  gliding  enemy,  and  two 
miles  from  his  friends!  And  then,  in  the  instant  that  a  wild  new 
hope  is  lighting  up  his  face,  the  coyote  turns  and  smiles  blandly  upon 
him  once  more,  and  with  a  something  about  it  which  seems  to  say: 
"  Well,  I  shall  have  to  tear  myself  away  from  you,  but  —  business 
is  business,  and  it  will  not  do  for  me  to  be  fooling  along  this  way 
all  day."  And  forthwith  there  is  a  rushing  sound,  and  the  sudden 
splitting  of  a  long  crack  through  the  atmosphere,  and  behold,  that 
dog  is  alone  in  the  midst  of  a  vast  solitude ! 

S.L.Clemens.    (Mark Twain.) 

It  is  a  real  help  sometimes  in  training  the  voice,  as  well 
as  in  vocal  expression,  to  test  the  student's  ear  with  the 
fundamental  elements  that  are  wrong  in  faults  of  melody. 

The  faults  of  inflexion  are  very  important.  They  are 
so  numerous  that  classification  according  to  elements 
is  difficult. 

It  should  be  noted  that  the  worst  of  all  faults  is  the 
elimination  of  inflexion  from  lack  of  definite  thought 
causing  monotony.  Force  without  thought  ends  in  loud- 
ness.  Many  speakers  emphasize  entirely  by  greater 
stress  of  voice.  Though  this  has  been  advocated  by 
books  of  elocution,  it  is  an  undignified  and  animal 
method  of  emphasis ;  it  does  not  appeal  to  the  intelli- 
gence, and  wearies  the  speaker  as  well  as  his  hearers. 


256  MIND   AND    VOICE 

Inflexion  is  a  fundamental  element  of  form,  and  this 
is  always  intellectual.  The  sense  of  inflexion  introduces 
the  power  to  reveal  the  higher  and  broader  logical  rela- 
tions of  ideas;  it  is  a  rational  method  and  develops 
reasoning  power  on  account  of  the  fact  that  it  is  the 
fundamental  language  of  thought. 

Another  fault  close  to  the  last  is  that  inflexions  are 
often  too  short,  weak,  and  indefinite.  Special  work  is 
needed  in  developing  their  length.  It  is  one  of  the  mbst 
important  steps  in  agility  to  be  able  to  make  a  long  in- 
flexion in  different  degrees  of  abruptness  with  great* 
ease  and  freedom.  It  implies  great  facility  in  the  vocal 
bands  and  their  free  action  in  co-ordination  with  the 
management  of  the  breath. 

Inflexions  in  everyday  life,  on  account  of  earnestness, 
and  the  formality  of  men's  relations  with  each  other, 
may  be  short,  though  in  business  and  in  society  their 
improvement  brings  success;  but  to  make  thoughts  in- 
teresting to  thousands,  whether  in  the  pulpit,  on  the 
platform,  at  the  bar,  or  on  the  stage,  necessarily  de- 
mands that  the  inflexions  be  lengthened.  The  length- 
ening of  inflexions  demands  greater  control  of  breath, 
openness  of  the  tone  passage  and  improvement  of  all 
the  voice  conditions. 

Minor  inflexions,  another  fault,  unfortunately  common 
with  emotional  persons,  those  with  sad  views  of  life  or 
those  in  poor  health,  imply  a  certain  weakening  analo- 
gous to  the  minor  chord  in  music  or  chromatic  scale. 

These  must  be  regarded  as  faults.  Emotion  is  nor- 
mally rendered  by  the  modulations  of  the  secondary  vi- 
brations of  the  voice,  not  by  modulations  of  inflexions; 
when  these  are  modulated  to  express  feeling,  weakness 
is  the  result.  They  may  have  any  kind  of  color  expres- 
sive of  any  emotion,  but  should  be  abrupt,  long,  and 
straight,  even  in  the  expression  of  most  intense  pathos. 
The  struggle  to  control  the  feeling  causes  such  inflexions. 


LENGTH    OF   THE   SOUND   WAVES  257 

Crooked  or  circumflex  inflexions  have  also  been  con- 
sidered a  fault,  though  some  have  regarded  them  as 
a  sign  of  naturalness.  The  many  complicated  turnings 
of  the  voice  detected  in  the  patronizing  talk  of  some 
primary  teachers,  and  of  other  people  who  speak  to 
children,  are  undignified  and  silly.  They  weary  the 
speaker  and  the  child  that  is  compelled  to  listen.  They 
take  all  the  weight  from  speech.  Sometimes  circum- 
flex inflexions  are  due  to  wit  and  humor,  though 
frequently  accompanied  by  a  kind  of  drawl;  but  the 
constant  strain  to  be  funny  is  a  decided  weakness.  It 
is  no  sign  of  genuine  humor,  but  is  more  apt  to  be  the 
expression  of  sarcasm,  and  of  that  wit  which  is  meant 
to  cut.  Genuine  sympathetic  humor  and  wit  of  the 
higher  kind  are  not  expressed  by  circumflex  inflexions. 

In  general,  it  must  be  said  that  in  proportion  to  straight- 
ness  and  directness  of  inflexion,  even  in  familiar  inter- 
course, is  the  frankness  and  sincerity  of  the  speaker. 
"Let  your  communication  be,  Yea,  yea;  Nay,  nay," 
may  mean,  "  Let  your  inflexions  be  straight." 

Another  fault  is  a  certain  drawl.  It  is  generally 
united  to  circumflex  inflexions.  It  is  to  be  corrected  by 
definite  work  upon  abrupt  inflexions,  and  upon  the  atti- 
tude of  mind.  Unity  and  earnestness  of  purpose  will 
help  to  eradicate  it. 

One  of  the  best  methods  of  correcting  faults  of  inflexion 
is  to  render  passages  full  of  great  dignity,  such  as  the 
speeches  of  princes,  kings,  and  queens  in  Shakespeare, 
or  other  characters  in  dialogue,  giving  them  the  dignity 
and  weight  which  belongs  to  them.  A  student  can  often 
receive  great  benefit  by  producing  a  character  which  has 
noble  qualities,  in  direct  opposition  to  his  faults.  This 
furnishes  a  dramatic  remedy  for  defects  —  one  founded 
upon  the  principle  of  recognizing  the  mind  as  the  cause 
of  all  true  qualities,  as  well  as  effects. 

Many  other  faults  can  be  noted;   but  they  disappear 


MIND   AND   VOICE 

without  any  attention  being  paid  to  them  if  the  primary 
and  normal  conditions  are  established.  Every  kind  of 
misuse  of  the  voice,  it  cannot  be  too  often  said,  must  be 
corrected  by  right  use.  The  fault  is  always  a  mere  sign 
of  a  deeper  condition.  Keep  the  mind  upon  the  funda- 
mental causes  and  responsive  co-ordinations. 

II.  INTERVALLIC  AGILITY. 

Another  element  of  variation  of  pitch  —  one  common 
both  to  speech  and  song  —  is  the  interval,  or  change 
from  one  pitch  to  another.  In  song  these  intervals  are 
definitely  marked  and  regular,  as  has  been  shown;  in 
speech  they  are  perfectly  free  and  vary  infinitely  hi  de- 
gree. They  may  be  upward  or  downward,  and  of  almost 
any  extent.  Yet  though  so  free,  they  are  full  of  mean- 
ing. A  change  in  key  is  a  most  important  element  of 
expression  in  speech  and  song,  and  of  naturalness  in 
conversation. 

The  first  step  toward  increase  of  agility  in  the  making 
of  intervals  in  speech  should  be  the  accentuation  of 
mental  discrimination  or  progressive  transition  of 
ideas. 

As  a  means  of  doing  this,  select  a  few  simple  lines, 
and  while  definitely  conceiving  the  picture  in  each  clause, 
discriminate  each  successive  image  as  widely  as  possible 
from  the  former  one  and  express  this  variation  by  chang- 
ing the  pitch.  Accentuate  the  pictorial  action  of  the 
mind  and  especially  the  definiteness  of  the  successive 
pictures,  and  especially  the  contrast  of  each  with  the 
preceding. 

The  following  lines,  for  example,  may  be  given  hi  the 
Exercise 82  ^d^le  of  the  voice;  or  one  line  on  a  high 
'  and  the  next  on  a  low  pitch.  Or  the  first 
may  be  given  on  a  very  high  pitch,  the  next 
on  a  much  lower  one;  then  the  next  on  a  very  high  or 
a  central  pitch. 


LENGTH    OF   THE   SOUND   WAVES  259 

O  larks,  sing  out  to  the  thrushes, 
And  thrushes,  sing  to  the  sky! 
Sing  from  your  nests  in  the  bushes, 

And  sing  wherever  you  fly. 

Wot  Known. 

The  direction  of  pitches  amounts  to  nothing,  the  point 
being  that  there  must  be  a  change  of  voice  with  every 
change  of  the  mind.  It  makes  no  difference  whether 
the  first  clause  is  low  or  high.  The  only  point  to  be 
noted  is  that  if  the  first  is  high  the  second  will  be  low; 
if  the  first  is  low  the  second  will  be  higher.  The  direc- 
tion of  interval  in  speech  is  free  from  rules. 

In  singing,  every  note  must  be  upon  an  exact  key. 
The  direction  of  the  interval  is  the  chief  element  in 
melody  and  must  be  definitely  fixed.  Such  free  modu- 
lation as  is  found  in  all  natural  speech  is  impossible  in 
the  art  of  song.  It  may  be  that  the  spontaneous  and  ab- 
solutely free  character  of  intervals  in  speech  is  the  cause 
of  their  universal  neglect  in  all  elocutionary  methods. 

All  the  elements  of  speech  are  free,  but  the  length 
of  the  direction  of  the  intervals  in  speech  are  most 
spontaneous.  They  indicate  degrees  of  animation  or 
excitement.  The  direction  of  the  interval  is  of  little  con- 
sequence. Take,  for  example,  and  render  with  every  pos- 
sible change  of  interval  some  simple  passage,  such  as  this : 

Sing  loud,  oh  bird  in  the  tree, 

Oh  bird,  sing  loud  in  the  sky ; 
And  honey  bees  blacken  the  clover  seas, 

There  are  none  of  you  glad  as  I. 
"  In  Blossom  Time  "  Ina  Donna  Coolbreth. 

The  student  should  read  such  passages  over  in  many 
ways,  observing  that  all  are  perfectly  natural  and  effec- 
tive, but  that  when  read  along  on  one  key  the  real  anima- 
tion and  spirit  of  the  passage  is  not  interpreted.  The 
intervals  are  the  means  of  expression  though  perfectly 
free  and  without  rule. 


260  MIND  AND  VOICE 

It  is  helpful  also  in  the  development  of  power  to  make 
intervals,  to  practice  the  starts  in  a  peculiar  way.  Make 
each  successive  start  short  and  the  following  one  at  a 
wide  interval.  The  teacher  may  lead  and  give  the  inter- 
vals with  extensive  leaps  in  pitch.  The  starts  may  be 
given  softly  but  with  a  decided  accentuation,  proceeding 
seemingly  without  any  purpose  to  the  widest  extremes. 
This  is  also  a  helpful  exercise  hi  song.  The  teacher  may 
extemporize  a  tune  by  the  successive  starts. 

This  exercise  furnishes  means  for  a  progressive 
advance  in  the  practice  of  starts.  The  principle  of  pro- 
gression simply  means,  as  has  been  shown,  that  each 
successive  exercise  should  accentuate  what  has  been 
done  and  at  the  same  time  add  something.  The  first 
principle  is  thus  being  established  while  the  student  is 
mastering  another  step. 

Students  should  also  practice  such  an  exercise  alone, 
letting  the  voice  leap  freely  from  one  pitch  to  another. 

The  development  of  intervallic  agility  is  of  infinite 
importance  in  speech.  Its  mastery  is  easy  to  one  who 
will  simply  and  definitely  practice  poetry,  or  emphasize 
the  primary  actions  of  the  mind  in  thinking  the  simplest 
passage  whether  prose  or  poetry. 

It  is  well  for  the  student  to  practice  passages  with 
various  degrees  of  animation,  especially  joyous  and 
exciting  passages,  accentuating  as  much  as  possible 
the  extent  of  the  intervals  as  the  means  of  expressing 
the  animation.  This  causes  freedom  and  ease  in  the 
use  of  the  voice,  establishes  facility  in  preparation, 
flexibility  of  breathing  and  all  the  conditions  of  voice. 

III.   MELODIC   AGILITY. 

A  study  of  conversation  reveals  the  fact  that  inflexion 
and  intervals  are  always  found  together.  When  one  is 
accentuated,  in  nearly  every  instance  the  other  must  be 
increased.  In  accentuating  one,  we  unconsciously  em- 


LENGTH    OF   THE    SOUND    WAVES  26l 

phasize  the  other.    Inflexion  and  intervals  are  the  two 
elements  of  what  may  be  called  speech  form  or  melody. 

If  we  note  again  the  primary  elements  of  English  con- 
versation, speaking  some  simple  sentence  such  as  "  I 
saw  your  brother  last  night,"  we  find  that  we  not  only 
make  rising  inflexions  until  we  reach  the  word  "  brother," 
which  has  a  falling  inflexion,  while  the  words  following 
have  also  a  shorter  falling  inflexion  on  a  lower  pitch, 
but  also  do  we  find  intervals  between  the  words  which 
are  also  rising,  including  the  one  before  the  long  fall  on 
"  brother,"  and  those  following  the  emphatic  word  have 
a  downward  direction.  These  intervals  are  also  funda- 
mental characteristics  of  naturalness  in.  speaking  Eng- 
lish. They  must  be  mastered  with  the  inflexions  as  the 
primary  elements  of  delivery. 

We  may  give  here  an  important  advanced  step  in 
work  for  the  actions  preparatory  to  speech.  Exercise  83. 
We  can  combine  the  accentuation  of  the  fJdPconversa- 
right  taking  of  breath  and  openness  of  the  tionalForm- 
tone  passage  with  exercises  for  agility  by  extending  ex- 
ercise 45,  counting  in  still  greater  groups.  Take  any 
number,  for  example  eight,  accentuating  with  a  long  fall- 
ing or  rising  inflexion  each  of  the  numbers  in  turn,  and 
subordinating  all  the  other  words:  or  take  in  the  same 
way  meaningless  syllables,  such  as  la,  la,  le,  lo,  loo,  or 
the  names  of  the  letters  of  the  alphabet.  The  exercise 
can  also  be  practiced  with  rising  inflexions. 

In  this  exercise  we  may  review  and  give  additional 
and  more  advanced  practice  to  all  that  has  been  previ- 
ously observed  in  relation  to  preparation  and  release  of 
conditions  of  breathing  with  each  group,  making  each 
an  individual  impression.  The  varied  length  of  the  in- 
flexions and  the  union  of  these  with  intervals  can  also 
be  practiced,  and  given  with  degrees  of  emphasis, 
lengthening  the  central  inflexions.  Subordination  may 
also  be  emphasized. 


262  MIND   AND   VOICE 

Now,  in  such  an  exercise,  what  is  the  especial  difficulty? 
At  first  the  inflexions  will  seem  most  difficult,  but  later, 
the  teacher  will  find  the  greatest  difficulty  in  intervals. 
There  will  be  a  tendency  to  give  the  words  before  the 
emphatic  one  on  a  level  and  to  drop  upon  the  emphatic 
word,  then  rising  again  to  give  the  remaining  words  on 
the  same  pitch. 

The  teacher  by  accentuating  this  can  introduce  several 
amusing  speech  tunes  common  among  emotional  speak- 
ers without  intellectual  culture.  The  first  of  these  tunes 
is  a  drop  upon  the  emphatic  words. 

Independently  of  such  abnormal  tunes,  however,  it 
may  be  stated  that  almost  everyone  fails  in  the  co-ordi- 
nation of  the  emphatic  parts.  The  primary  element  of 
conversational  form  consists  not  only  in  accentuation  of 
the  central  idea  but  in  co-ordination  by  shortening  the 
inflexion  and  opposing  the  intervals  of  the  subordinate 
and  emphatic  parts. 

The  teacher  should  carefully  illustrate  and  accentuate 
this  and  perseveringly  practice  it.  The  practice  may  be 
easily  done  in  class  but  the  teacher  should  observe  care- 
fully whether  everyone  is  rightly  making  the  change. 

The  number  should  be  extended  and  the  accentuated 
syllable  or  number  changed  with  each  successive  repeti- 
tion of  the  exercise.  It  is  important  also  to  introduce  an 
emphatic  pause  after  the  central  idea. 

Subordination  is  an  important  element  in  vocal  form. 
An  excellent  test  of  agility  is  to  make  definite  short 
inflexions  on  a  low  pitch  in  subordination  to  an  em- 
phatic one  sustaining  the  conditions  and  openness  of 
the  tone  passage  and  other  vocal  conditions. 

IV.   RANGE   OF   VOICE   IN   SPEECH. 

Not  only  should  there  be  practice  of  conversational 
form  by  working  upon  specific  phrases  or  short  sen- 
tences, but  these  phrases  must  be  separated  by  still 


LENGTH    OF   THE   SOUND   WAVES  263 

wider  changes  of  pitch.  Not  only  should  the  vocal  form 
hi  each  individual  phrase  be  accentuated  by  longer  in- 
flexions and  intervals,  but  one  phrase  should  be  put  on  a 
high,  another  on  a  low,  pitch.  There  should  be  an  ex- 
tension of  all  inflexions  and  intervals  in  the  giving  of 
some  strong  paragraph^ 

Legouve  illustrated  the  range  of  voice  by  comparing 
it  to  an  army.  "  An  army  "  he  says,  "  is  composed  of 
infantry,  cavalry,  and  artillery.  The  cavalry  is  used  for 
a  quick  dash;  the  artillery  for  a  heavy  charge;  but 
the  main  dependence  must  always  be  upon  the 
infantry." 

Similarly  hi  the  voice,  an  exalted  or  excited  dash  of  the 
thought  calls  for  a  high  pitch;  a  low,  concentrated, 
weighty,  or  intense  presentation  of  an  idea  requires  a 
low  pitch,  but  everyday  conversation  uses  the  centre 
of  the  voice.  The  same  is  true  in  all  passional  or  excited 
use  of  the  voice. 

Consistent  with  this  the  student  should  practice  pas- 
sages that  will  bring  hi  his  whole  voice.  The  complete 
army  is  composed  of  all  three  divisions,  and  so  the  whole 
range  of  voice  must  be  used  hi  natural  emphatic  speak- 
ing. We  can  see  this  also  hi  the  most  colloquial  passage. 
Conversation  is  made  more  animated  and  delightful  by 
width  of  range.  The  length  of  inflexion  may  not  neces- 
sarily be  increased  nor  the  conversational  form  of  each 
phrase  greatly  extended;  while  at  the  same  time  the 
wide  intervals  between  phrases  is  restful,  helpful, 
and  expresses  free  and  spontaneous  animation  of  the 
mind.  These  many  steps  all  need  definite  practice, 
but  they  can  be  combined  and  co-ordinated  in  ex- 
pression. 

Any  dignified  passages  of  simple  prose  or  verse,  such 
as  the  narration  of  a  story,  may  be  made  a  means  of 
practicing  this  most  important  but  intellectual  element 
in  vocal  expression. 


264  MIND   AND   VOICE 

Passages  of  great  earnestness  and  intense  passion 
Exercise  84.  should  also  be  included.  Attention  should 
§!£?!?  ***  also  be  given  to  direction  of  inflexion  and 
Voice>  extent  of  intervals  but  especially  to  the  fact 

that  every  clause  should  be  put  in  a  different  part  of  the 
voice.  Thus,  the  entire  range  of  the  voice  can  be  em- 
ployed. It  may  be  well  also  in  the  illustration  of  this  to 
give  a  passional  extract  with  loudness  and  then  with  ex- 
tension of  range,  and  to  observe  how  much  more  dignity 
and  intensity  of  excitement  is  suggested  by  range, than 
by  volume.  Passages  of  simple  dignity  may  also  be 
taken,  and  made  earnest,  salient,  and  emphatic  by 
range  of  voice.  Range  of  voice  and  intensity  are 
always  dignified  modes  of  expression. 

Calm  Soul  of  all  things !  make  it  mine 

To  feel,  amid  the  city's  jar, 
That  there  abides  a  peace  of  thine, 

Man  did  not  make,  and  cannot  mar. 
The  will  to  neither  strive  nor  cry, 

The  power  to  feel  with  others,  give. 
Calm,  calm  me  more ;  nor  let  me  die 

Before  I  have  begun  to  live. 

M.  Arnold. 

Do  not  look  for  wrong  and  evil  — 

You  will  find  them  if  you  do; 
As  you  measure  for  your  neighbor 

He  will  measure  back  to  you. 
Look  for  goodness,  look  for  gladness, 

You  will  meet  them  all  the  while; 
If  you  bring  a  smiling  visage 

To  the  glass,  you  meet  a  smile. 

There  is  a  tendency  of  all  speakers  to  stay  in  one  part 
of  the  voice  and  express  animation  by  loudness,  while 
the  most  natural  expression  of  increased  passion  is  a 
wider  range  of  the  voice.  Even  in  dignified  accentuation 
of  the  simplest  conversation  there  should  be  something 
of  this  extension. 


LENGTH    OF   THE   SOUND    WAVES  265 

A  speaker  should  use  his  whole  range,  but  this  does 
not  mean  loudness.  It  is  the  opposite  of  stridency.  It 
is  the  characteristic  of  agility  that  the  simplest  conver- 
sational passage  may  be  rendered  dignified,  and  made 
clear  to  a  large  audience  by  the  accentuation  of  range. 
There  should  be  accentuation  not  only  of  inflexions  but 
of  the  intervals  between  words,  and  between  phrases, 
clauses,  sentences,  and  paragraphs. 

It  is  strange  that  the  characteristic  modulations  of  the 
voice  have  been  so  greatly  overlooked.  The  student  who 
will  give  careful  study  to  the  simple  elements  of  range 
will  be  greatly  rewarded. 

The  faults  associated  with  the  change  of  the  length  of 
the  sound  waves,  or  agility  hi  speech,  are  many  and  very 
important.  Perhaps  most  of  these  are  better  discussed 
in  vocal  expression,  such  as  the  abnormal  speech  tunes, 
but  most  of  them  are  vitally  connected  also  with  the 
use  of  the  voice. 

The  first  of  these,  and  the  most  common  of  all  faults,  is 
monotony.  This  is  due  to  the  absence  of  definite  thought, 
to  a  lack  of  facility  in  the  use  of  the  voice  and  at  times 
to  a  bad  ear.  Monotony  may  be  associated  more  with 
inflexion,  all  inflexions  being  of  the  same  length,  but  it 
will  in  every  instance  be  also  associated  with  lack  of 
changes  in  pitch.  Work  for  range  of  voice  and  exercising 
a  definite  attitude  of  the  mind  in  thinking  and  the  pro- 
gressive discrimination  which  reveal  this  in  inflexion  and 
change  of  pitch  together  with  the  exercises  which  will 
eliminate  any  rigidity  or  stiffness  will  very  easily  correct 
dispositions  to  sameness  of  pitch. 

On  account  of  the  fact  that  English  is  the  most  inflex- 
ional of  languages,  certain  difficulties  will  be  met  with 
foreigners  who  speak  English  as  they  speak  their  own 
languages,  in  more  or  less  of  a  level  drift.  The  simple 
exercises  enumerated  will  be  very  helpful  to  teachers 
in  schools  where  there  are  many  foreigners,  and  will 


266  MIND    AND   VOICE 

furnish  means  of  developing  the  ear  and  of  awakening 
certain  of  the  subtle  changes  of  pitch  and  inflexion. 
Simple  melodic  form  marked  out  carefully  with  chalk 
and  applied,  or  simple  meaningless  words,  such  as 
counting  (exercise  44)  will  marvelously  help  students 
who  are  struggling  with  the  difficulties  of  English. 

Occasionally  students  are  found  who  speak  on  too 
low  a  pitch.  A  still  greater  number  talk  on  too  high  a 
pitch.  It  does  no  good  in  such  cases  to  say  to  the  one 
"  speak  on  a  higher  pitch,"  or  to  the  other  "  speak  on 
a  lower  pitch."  Such  suggestions  create  other  faults. 
Students  must  be  given  the  cause  of  the  fault  and  must 
be  told  to  speak  on  more  pitches.  Both  of  these  are 
phases  of  monotony.  In  fact,  all  the  leading  faults  of 
agility  may  be  summarized  under  the  heading  of  monot- 
ony. Even  the  speech  tunes  are  all  monotonous.  They 
continually  repeat  some  abnormal  action.  Monotony 
is  always  an  element;  hence,  even  in  the  breaking  up 
of  tunes  of  all  kinds,  dependence  must  be  had  upon  the 
exercise  of  the  fundamentals  of  English  speech  melody. 
In  every  case,  definiteness  of  thinking,  and  decided 
attitudes  of  mind,  cause  true  inflexional  modulation; 
contrast,  discrimination,  and  progressive  transition  cause 
intervals.  The  importance  of  accentuating  these  mental 
actions  hi  the  interpretation  of  good  literature  and  reading 
and  in  the  conversational  telling  of  stories,  discussions 
in  various  forms  of  extemporaneous  speaking  cannot  be 
overestimated. 


XX.    AGILITY  IN   SONG 

The  necessity  of  improving  agility  in  singing  is  more 
easily  recognized  than  in  speaking.  Possibly  too  much 
work  has  been  given  to  agility.  Many  begin  almost 
immediately  upon  this  and  do  not  devote  sufficient  at- 
tention to  primary  conditions.  Agility  should  follow,  in 


LENGTH    OF   THE   SOUND    WAVES  267 

both   speech  and   song,  the   establishment  of  correct  j 

breathing,  right  expansion  of  the  tone  passage,  elimina-  ^ 

tion  of  constriction,  and  proper  initiation  and  vibration  / 
of  the  tone. 

I.   SUSTAINING   OF   CONDITIONS. 

In  the  development  of  song,  the  first  step  should 
always  be  a  realization  of  the  peculiar  nature  of  the  art 
and  its  function  in  human  expression.  The  primary 
nature  of  song  is  to  express  the  deep  feeling  and  moods 
of  the  human  heart,  the  feeling  which  awakens  hi 
response  to  a  situation.  This  is  the  psychological  cause 
of  continuity  of  conditions.  No  student  should  be  asked 
to  prolong  the  tone,  even  in  technical  or  mechanical 
exercises,  without  being  made  to  realize  what  it  means. 
A  sense  of  sustained  feeling,  the  holding  of  a  situation 
in  mind,  will  cause  expansion  and  sympathetic  retention 
of  the  breath  and  will  secure  prolongation  far  more 
quickly  than  a  mere  dependence,  as  is  usually  the 
case,  upon  will  hi  holding  the  breath. 

It  is  for  this  reason  that  the  first  step  for  the  develop- 
ment of  agility  in  song  is  not  to  secure  mere  variations 
in  pitch,  but  continuity  of  conditions.  Power  must  first 
of  all  be  developed  to  sustain  attention  upon  one  idea 
and  to  hold  one  feeling  without  allowing  the  conditions 
to  change.  Even  from  the  technical  point  of  view,  be- 
hind all  variation  in  song  there  is  a  key  tone,  and  im- 
plied in  every  possible  variation  in  either  speech  or  song 
are  certain  conditions  which  are  the  basis  of  the  varia- 
tion. Only  by  sustaining  the  conditions  of  support 
will  the  vocal  bands  be  free  to  make  their  changes 
and  the  organs  to  adjust  themselves  to  the  greatest 
flexibility. 

Before  extending  exercises  for  agility  or  continuity  of 
conditions  to  variations  of  pitch  or  scales  ease  of  tone 
production  in  all  parts  of  the  voice  must  be  tested.  The 


268  MIND   AND   VOICE 

exercise  called  "  Ease  in  Intonation  "  should  be  reviewed 
and  investigation  made  of  the  student's  power  to  preserve 
conditions  of  support  in  the  articulation,  speaking  as  easily 
as  in  conversation,  while  prolonging  tone  with  changes 
in  pitch  as  in  scales.  This  ease  is  essential  because  in 
accentuating  changes  in  pitch  the  activities  hi  continuity 
of  conditions  must  still  receive  attention.  True  changes 
in  the  vocal  bands  are  co-ordinated  with  control  of 
breath  and  all  other  conditions. 

Every  teacher  of  song  will  have  his  own  exercises  for 
agility.  As  an  innumerable  number  of  these  are  found 
hi  different  books  it  will  not  be  necessary  to  present 
any  here.  The  chief  harm  that  has  come  from  the 
practice  of  exercises  in  agility  in  song  is  due  to  the 
fact  that  they  have  been  taken  at  the  first  of  a  student's 
work,  before  fundamental  conditions  are  established. 
The  result  is  an  unnatural  and  labored  use  of  the 
muscles  which  degenerates  into  a  habit,  and  may  cause 
real  hi  jury  to  the  voice.  Before  any  exercise  in  agility 
is  given,  there  must  be  mastery  of  the  fundamental  co- 
ordinations. 

Such  exercises,  although  primarily  intended  for 
singers,  can  be  practiced  with  great  advantage  by  speak- 
ers. All  parts  of  the  voice  in  singing  are  of  great  im- 
portance, while  the  central  parts  of  the  voice  are  of  most 
importance  to  the  speaker.  Still,  these  exercises  when 
rightly  practiced,  without  straining  for  extreme  pitches, 
high  or  low,  but  gradually  persuading  the  voice  to  a 
realization  of  its  full  extent  help  to  extend  the  range  of 
the  voice  for  speech  as  well  as  in  song. 

II.   EASE  IN  THE  PRODUCTION  OF  HIGH  AND  LOW  NOTES. 

In  the  variations  of  pitch  and  range  of  the  voice  in 
song,  we  are  brought  face  to  face  with  the  fact  that  in 
both  higher  and  lower  notes  there  is  a  tendency  to  intro- 
duce a  great  deal  of  unnecessary  labor.  In  modern  times 


LENGTH   OF   THE   SOUND   WAVES  269 

many  who  have  given  thoughtful  study  to  the  voice  have 
distinguished  a  different  action  of  the  muscles  and  parts 
in  the  voice  box  in  producing  tones  in  the  different  parts 
of  the  voice,  and  they  have  taught  this  under  the  name 
of  vocal  "  registers."  They  have  made  students  mark 
definitely  these  changes  of  register,  and  develop  ease  by 
means  of  the  variations.  Some  have  gone  so  far  as 
to  introduce  a  kind  of  falsetto  as  one  of  the  upper 
registers. 

Now,  it  can  easily  be  observed  in  singing  that  there  is 
a  change  and  that  most  people  have  certain  breaks  in 
the  voice  at  certain  points,  but  to  mark  plainly  these 
breaks  is  to  fail  to  recognize  their  cause.  The  sudden- 
ness of  the  break  is  due  to  the  fact  that  the  parts  were 
so  constricted  that  they  could  not  change  naturally  until 
a  change  was  absolutely  necessary,  then  too  great  a 
change  was  made. 

The  real  remedy  for  what  has  been  called  the  "  misuse 
of  the  registers  "  is  to  produce  each  tone  with  perfect 
ease  and  freedom,  absence  of  all  constriction  and  labor, 
especially  in  the  larynx,  and  then  as  each  note  is  made 
there  is  a  change.  The  changes  will  be  so  gradual  that 
not  any  great  break  in  the  voice  will  be  found,  and  far 
greater  ease  and  flexibility  will  also  be  attained. 

The  chief  fault  in  not  allowing  the  vocal  bands  and 
the  muscles  controlling  them  to  change  is  in  forcing  the 
same  action  on  a  low  pitch  into  a  higher  range,  causing  a 
constricted  and  labored  tone.  This  constriction  in 
securing  a  high  note  by  tension  is  often  injurious  and 
voices  are  frequently  destroyed  by  carelessness,  or  by 
lack  of  right  beginning  in  training. 

This  wrong  action  can  be  explained.  A  higher  pitch 
is  secured  in  two  ways,  —  either  by  shortening  the  length 
of  a  string  or  by  giving  it  greater  tension.  The  vocal 
bands  can  change  their  length  or  tension,  and  an  un- 
trained voice  or  one  trained  by  bad  methods  generally 


270  MIND   AND   VOICE 

heightens  the  pitch  by  giving  greater  tension  to  the  vocal 
bands  instead  of  allowing  the  parts  to  adjust  themselves 
freely  to  change  the  length  of  these  bands.  Increasing 
the  tension  without  changing  the  length  is  the  source 
of  most  of  the  difficulties.  Of  course,  the  parts  act  to 
shorten  the  bands,  but  in  practice  and  training  one 
should  allow  this  adjustment  to  take  place  easily  and 
normally;  sympathetically  retain  breath,  make  the  tone 
as  easily  and  freely  as  possible.  This  develops  expert- 
ness  in  varying  pitch  and  removes  the  constrictions  that 
interfere  with  normal  action  of  the  parts  concerned. 

Of  course,  the  size  of  the  voice  box  cannot  be  changed. 
One  with  a  large  voice  box  and  long  vocal  bands  among 
men  is  a  bass,  among  women  an  alto.  The  difficulty 
comes  chiefly  in  not  securing  a  certain  facility  in  chang- 
ing pitch  without  introducing  constrictions  or  abnormal 
muscular  action  which  will  cause  tension  in  the  vocal 
bands. 

The  student  who  wishes  to  examine  into  what  little 
is  known  of  the  difficult  subject  of  the  vocal  organs  will 
find  it  discussed  by  Sir  Morrell  McKenzie  in  his  book  on 
"Vocal  Hygiene,"  or  by  Dr.  Gordon  Holmes  in  his 
volume  on  "  Vocal  Physiology."  The  former  says 
definitely  that  mere  knowledge  of  the  vocal  organs  is 
of  little  assistance  to  singers.  In  fact,  too  much  knowl- 
edge of  the  changes  that  take  place  in  the  vocal  bands, 
or  rather  the  theories  regarding  these  changes,  may 
cause  too  great  a  consciousness  of  them  or  magnify 
them  at  certain  points,  and  thus  do  harm. 

The  best  teachers  of  singing  are  those  who  secure  such 
sympathetic  relaxation  of  the  whole  tone  passage  and 
of  all  the  muscles  around  the  bands,  that  the  parts  are 
allowed  to  adjust  themselves  normally  and  unconsciously. 
Normal  changes  from  one  register  to  another  are  un- 
conscious and  instantaneous.  When  there  is  a  free  and 
easy  functioning  of  the  voice,  the  change  begins  earlier 


LENGTH   OF   THE   SOUND   WAVES  271 

and  there  is  little  apparent  variation  where  the  ordinary 
voice  makes  a  break. 

One  of  the  simplest  and  most  helpful  exercises  in 
developing  correct  use  of  the  registers  is  to  take  a  simple 
phrase  and  speak  it  not  only  with  openness  of  tone  and 
ease  but  also  with  the  widest  possible  range.  Beginning 
on  a  central  pitch,  take  sudden  leaps  in  different 
directions,  making  sure  that  there  is  no  unusual  or  un- 
natural activity  anywhere,  and  that  the  voice  is  allowed 
to  adjust  itself. 

Agility  in  song  is  aided  by  such  an  exercise  as  talking 
on  all  possible  pitches  as  simply  as  in  conversation. 
Ease  in  recitative  should  be  mastered  also  for  the  free- 
dom it  gives  to  the  voice  hi  changing  its  pitch  as  hi  con- 
versation. The  recitation  of  lyrics  with  wide  natural 
intervals  also  aids  agility  in  song  as  well  as  speech. 

Still  another  exercise,  and  possibly  the  most  important 
for  the  development  of  a  correct  action  of  the  parts  con- 
cerned hi  changing  pitch,  consists  hi  the  practice  of 
inflexions. 

In  conversation  why  is  there  so  rarely  a  fault  in  the 
use  of  the  registers?  Because  in  speaking  the  vocal 
bands  are  allowed  to  make  their  adjustments  naturally. 
In  the  making  of  inflexions,  or  changes  of  pitch  in  con- 
versation as  already  stated,  there  are  leaps  and  jumps 
from  one  pitch  to  another  which  are  easy  and  free.  The 
delicate  adjustments  are  allowed  to  take  place  without 
constriction,  but  in  song  there  is  a  tendency  to  sustain 
the  actions.  In  passing  from  a  lower  pitch  to  a  higher 
one,  for  example,  there  is  a  tendency  to  perpetuate  certain 
activities  belonging  to  lower  pitches,  thus  carrying  them 
up  where  they  do  not  belong.  Accordingly,  one  should 
practice  inflexions  hi  a  great  variety  of  pitches,  making 
them  long,  short,  and  abrupt,  giving  them  with  great 
flexibility  and  ease,  and  allowing  the  organs  to  make 
their  own  spontaneous  adjustments. 


272  MIND   AND   VOICE 

THE  BLACKBIRD'S  SONG. 

Magdalen  at  Michael's  gate 

Tirled  at  the  pin; 
On  Joseph's  thorn  sang  the  blackbird, 

"Let  her  in!  let  her  in!" 

"  Hast  thou  seen  the  wounds?  "  said  Michael; 

"  Know'st  thou  thy  sin?  " 
"  It  is  evening,  evening,"  sang  the  blackbird, 

"Let  her  in!  let  her  in!" 

"  Yes,  I  have  seen  the  wounds, 

And  I  know  my  sin." 
"  She  knows  it  well,  well,  well,"  sang  the  blackbird: 

"Let  her  in!  let  her  in!" 

"  Thou  bringest  no  offerings,"  said  Michael, 

"  Naught  save  sin." 
And  the  blackbird  sang,  "  She  is  sorry,  sorry,  sorry; 

Let  her  in!  let  her  in!" 

When  he  had  sung  himself  to  sleep, 

And  night  did  begin, 
One  came  and  opened  Michael's  gate, 

And  Magdalen  went  in. 

Henry  Kingsley . 

III.   RANGE   OF   VOICE   IN   SONG. 

In  the  work  of  many  teachers  of  singing,  an  over- 
estimate is  often  placed  upon  the  extent  or  range  of  the 
voice. 

One  teacher  of  singing  was  sent  to  me  years  ago  by  a 
physician.  He  had  a  sore  throat  and  the  doctor  told  him 
that  there  was  evidently  something  wrong  with  his 
breathing  and  the  use  of  his  voice.  The  teacher  boasted 
that  he  had  trained  many  voices,  adding  several  notes  to 
some.  He  was  suffering  from  a  constriction  of  the  phar- 
ynx due  to  the  fact  that  the  fundamental  co-ordination 
was  not  established.  Such  a  method  has  often  ruined 
voices.  It  cannot  be  too  often  repeated  that  any  train- 
ing of  the  voice  demands  first  of  all  the  establishment 
of  fundamental  conditions;  without  this  every  other 


LENGTH   OF   THE   SOUND   WAVES  273 

step  taken  may  lead  to  failure  and  may  destroy  this 
most  delicate  and  wonderful  of  all  instruments. 

Premature  endeavors  to  extend  the  range  may  often 
cause  ruin  to  a  voice.  Parts  are  put  to  an  effort  too  great 
and  abnormal  conditions  introduced.  Frequently  a 
squeezing  of  the  whole  throat  is  practiced  to  get  a  high 
note  which  may  remain  as  a  permanent  interference  to 
the  real  improvement  of  the  tone.  In  general,  and 
especially  at  first,  the  student  must  be  warned  against 
any  extreme  use  of  the  higher  or  lower  notes  in  his 
voice.  Vocal  training  should  begin  in  the  middle  of  the 
voice  and  sympathetically  and  easily  extend  upward 
and  downward. 

When  I  first  began  to  study  with  Lamperti  he  re- 
marked, "You  have  spoken  a  great  deal."  I  was  anxious 
to  know  how  he  could  tell  this ;  and  he  answered  that  I 
used  the  middle  of  my  voice  so  much  better  than  the 
extremes.  There  is  no  doubt  that  every  person  must 
have  centrality  of  voice  and  the  speaker  especially 
must  secure  control  of  it.  Wherever  one  speaks  most 
easily  and  normally  there  the  work  should  begin. 
Patience  will  be  required  to  secure  right  conditions  in 
the  extreme  possibilities  of  the  action  of  his  vocal  bands. 

Voices  have  been  classed  in  general  according  to 
their  predominant  parts,  or  those  most  capable  of  ex- 
pressive use.  Men's  voices  are  basses,  baritones,  or 
tenors.  Both  tenors  and  basses  are  also  divided  into 
two  classes.  This  distinction  is  made  to  secure  a  division 
of  parts  for  male  quartets  or  for  purposes  of  harmony, 
especially  in  choral  or  chorus  work. 

Those  possessing  a  baritone  voice  are  often  discour- 
aged and  consider  that  they  cannot  sing  at  all.  As  a 
matter  of  fact,  the  baritone  voice  is  usually  best  adapted 
to  speaking.  Any  voice  tends  to  become  this  type  when 
there  is  little  exercise  in  singing  and  constant  practice 
in  speaking. 


274  MIND   AND   VOICE 

Unusual  voices  always  attract  the  most  attention. 
Hence,  many  persons  strain  to  become  high  tenors  or 
high  sopranos. 

The  reason  why  a  voice  that  uses  more  easily  the 
central  part  is  best  for  speaking  is  that  from  this  the 
voice  can  play  more  easily  upward  or  downward.  If  it 
is  very  low  the  low  notes  can  be  given  well  and  the 
possibility  of  variation  is  only  upward;  but  if  very  high 
the  possibility  of  variation  is  chiefly  downward  or  en- 
tirely towards  the  notes  below.  In  speaking,  great 
variation  is  needed  both  upward  and  downward.  Even 
in  singers  there  is  frequently  a  weakness  of  the  voice  in 
the  central  notes,  and  this  is  especially  true  of  sopranos. 
It  is  my  opinion  that  no  voice  will  lose  by  having  the 
central  parts  of  it  sympathetically  and  easily  trained, 
and  to  these  parts  the  first  exercises  should  be  always 
directed. 

Some  consider  that  if  a  person  is  to  speak  it  will  neces- 
sarily interfere  with  and  destroy  the  voice  in  singing. 
There  is  an  element  of  truth  in  this.  It  is  impossible 
for  one  who  is  continually  speaking  to  preserve  a  very 
low  bass  or  a  very  high  tenor  to  the  greatest  efficiency. 
A  speaker  tends  to  use  his  whole  voice  if  his  speaking 
is  natural  and  normal.  If  his  speaking  is  abnormal  he 
is  inclined  to  use  only  a  small  part  of  his  voice,  to  nar- 
row its  range.  On  the  contrary,  if  a  man  develops  his 
voice  for  singing  he  learns  whether  it  is  bass  or  tenor 
and  develops  it  accordingly.  It  is  a  question  whether 
the  neglect  of  the  other  parts  of  the  voice  helps  in  its 
extension  in  a  given  direction  or  not,  but  such  is  the 
common  view  and  practice. 

In  general,  however,  both  singers  and  speakers  should 
give  some  attention  to  the  normal  range  of  the  voice  and 
preserve  it  and  develop  its  possibilities  in  its  whole 
extent.  I  am  inclined  to  think  that  the  antagonism 
between  singing  and  speaking  has  been  due  to  artificial 


LENGTH    OF   THE   SOUND   WAVES  275 

training  on  the  one  hand,  and  an  entire  lack  of  training 
on  the  other. 

Too  much  has  been  made  of  the  singing  of  the  "  top 
note,"  and  of  the  ability  to  touch  and  to  hold  certain 
notes.  The  best  test  of  expressive  power  and  beauty 
in  the  voice  is  the  richness  and  freedom  of  its  action 
through  its  whole  extent,  combined  with  the  power  to 
express  feeling,  and,  as  will  be  shown  later,  especially 
its  elasticity  and  power  to  change  the  overtones  and 
sympathetic  vibrations.  This  is  of  far  more  impor- 
tance in  expression  than  the  extraordinary  range  of  three 
octaves  or  more. 

Primary  co-ordination  and  right  management  of  the 
breath,  relaxation  of  the  pharynx  and  the  right  co- 
ordination between  action  of  the  vocal  bands  and  the 
sympathetic  retention  of  the  breath  should  be  mastered 
before  any  effort  is  made  to  accentuate  the  range  of 
the  voice.  The  great  centre  of  the  voice  must  be  made 
normal  and  the  extension  in  range  be  very  gradual. 

In  addition  to  the  mental  causes  of  lack  of  range, 
there  is  present  at  times  a  physical  cause,  a  lack  of 
free,  flexible  variation  of  the  voice  in  all  its  parts.  It  is 
important  for  the  teacher  to  give  special  attention  to 
every  voice  and  ascertain  whether  there  is  any  constric- 
tion in  different  parts  that  interferes  with  variation. 

Range  of  voice  is  important  because  it  is  the  most 
dignified  and  normal  method  of  expressing  earnestness. 
Emphasis  of  range  is  genuine,  and  applicable  to  the 
expression  of  every  kind  of  feeling.  Command  of  range 
of  voice  gives  command  of  passion,  also.  If  the  voice 
be  used  continually  on  one  pitch,  the  passion  expends 
itself,  and  the  person  loses  the  power  to  accumulate 
feeling.  Range  of  voice  in  singing  and  speaking  ex- 
presses control.  One  who  can  give  one  word  on  a  high 
part  of  his  voice  and  another  on  a  lower  part  with  per- 
fect naturalness,  has  command  of  thought  and  feeling 


276  MIND   AND   VOICE 

as  well  as  voice.  Changes  of  pitch  must  not,  however, 
be  mechanical.  They  should  be  part  of  a  rational 
natural  discrimination  between  great  ideas  and  extreme 
transitions  in  the  passion. 

After  noting  the  variations  of  pitch  with  every  suc- 
cessive idea,  and  the  extreme  variation  at  some  marked 
transition  from  the  objective  to  the  subjective,  or  from 
excitement  to  despair,  emphasize  extremely  the  mental 
actions  or  changes  in  point  of  view,  and  then  vary  all  the 
modulations  of  the  voice  as  much  as  possible,  especially 
expressing  such  transitions  by  wide  variations  of  key. 
Observe  that  change  of  pitch  is  one  of  the  most  spon- 
taneous and  free  of  all  expressive  modulations.  In 
fact,  pause  and  variation  of  pitch  seem  to  lead  the 
way  and  make  possible  the  other  expressive  modu- 
lations. 

A  crowd  of  troubles  passed  him  by 

As  he  with  courage  waited ; 

He  said,  "  Where  do  you  troubles  fly 

When  you  are  thus  belated?  " 

"  We  go,"  they  say,  "  to  those  who  mope, 

Who  look  on  life  dejected, 

Who  weakly  say  good-bye  to  hope, 

We  go  where  we  're  expected." 

Francis  J.  Allison. 

They  are  here  —  they  rush  on  —  we  are  broken  —  we  are  gone  — 
Our  left  is  borne  before  them  like  stubble  on  the  blast. 
O  Lord,  put  forth  thy  might!     O  Lord,  defend  the  right! 
Stand  back  to  back,  in  God's  name!  and  fight  it  to  the  last! 
Stout  Skippon  hath  a  wound  —  the  centre  hath  given  ground. 
Hark!  hark!  what  means  the  trampling  of  horsemen  on  our  rear? 
Whose  banner  do  I  see,  boys?    'T  is  he!  thank  God!  Jt  is  he,  boys! 
Bear  up  another  minute !     Brave  Oliver  is  here ! 
Their  heads  all  stooping  low,  their  points  all  in  a  row: 
Like  a  whirlwind  on  the  trees,  like  a  deluge  on  the  dikes, 
Our  cuirassiers  have  burst  on  the  ranks  of  the  Accurst, 
And  at  a  shock  have  scatter' d  the  forest  of  his  pikes. 

From  "  The  Battle  of  Nasefcy  "  Macaulay. 


VI 
HEIGHT  OF  THE  SOUND  WAVES 

XXI.     FORCE  AND  POWER 

Sound  not  only  varies  in  the  length  of  the  vibrations, 
but  also  in  height,  or  rather  amplitude.  The  amplitude 
of  the  sound  waves  gives  the  loudness  or  volume  of  the 
tone.  This  seems  to  be  the  function  of  the  vocal  bands, 
but  as  a  matter  of  fact,  it  is  the  management  of  the 
breath.  The  action  of  the  motive  power  upon  the 
vocal  bands  is  the  cause  of  different  degrees  of  loud- 
ness.  It  is,  therefore,  a  part  of  the  co-ordination  be- 
tween the  breathing  and  the  vocal  bands. 

The  study  of  volume  should  not  begin  early.  Many 
think  the  voice  should  be  strong  at  all  hazards,  and 
acquire  the  habit  of  forcing  the  breath  against  the  vocal 
bands  and  making  a  kind  of  strident  loudness,  but  this 
is  injurious.  The  higher  elements  of  expression,  such 
as  change  of  pitch,  inflexion,  and  the  modulation  of 
resonance  especially,  are  eliminated.  Loudness  makes 
all  monotonous.  Many  persons  exaggerate  its  im- 
portance, considering  it  the  only  sign  of  strength. 

The  power  to  speak  loudly  or  with  great  volume  is 
overestimated  by  nearly  all  students  and  some  teachers. 
The  first  question  put  to  a  teacher  is  frequently  "  Can 
you  tell  me  how  to  strengthen  my  voice?  "  The  worst 
perversions  in  quality  may  be  entirely  overlooked,  but 
when  anything  is  wrong  the  first  thought  is  that  the 
voice  is  weak.  Some  even  consider  this  as  practically 
the  only  step  to  be  taken  in  vocal  training.  "  Make  a 
point  of  practicing,"  writes  J.  P.  Sandlands,  in  a  foot- 


278  MIND   AND   VOICE 

note  in  his  "  Voice  and  Public  Speaking,"  "  these  exer- 
cises with  energy,  almost  with  violence.  Exercise,  to 
be  of  any  service,  must  be  smart.  This  is  true  of  all 
exercise  whose  object  is  the  development  of  power. 
It  may  be  advisable  to  sing  softly  for  the  purpose  of 
training  the  ear,  but  for  the  voice,  the  training  must  be 
severe.  The  gymnast,  when  he  wishes  to  train  for 
walking,  does  not  creep  listlessly  along;  but  he  exerts 
himself,  puts  forth  all  his  force,  and  strains  every 
nerve.  The  conditions  are  the  same.  We  must  train 
hard.  We  need  not  fear  any  bad  results.  There  will 
be  at  first  a  little  aching  in  the  throat  —  there  must  be, 
if  the  exercise  is  to  be  of  any  service  —  but  it  will  soon 
pass  off." 

Such  ideas,  to  one  familiar  with  the  delicacy  of  the 
human  voice,  especially  from  a  teacher  of  vocal  training, 
seem  astounding.  Many  instances  could  be  related 
in  which  voices  have  been  ruined  by  such  a  method. 
Possibly  a  few  persons  have  the  strength  to  bear 
it  for  a  time,  but  even  these,  unless  they  happen  to 
discover  by  accident  or  from  instinct  the  real  primary 
condition  of  voice  production,  can  never  develop  true 
vocal  power.  A  voice  that  is  perfectly  normal  at  the 
beginning  of  such  a  method  will  become  strident  and 
coarse,  if  not  husky.  While  at  the  first  it  may  seem  to 
be  getting  stronger,  one  who  thoroughly  understands 
knows  that  the  growth  is  hi  the  wrong  direction.  The 
power  to  make  easy  and  natural  inflexions,  and  espe- 
cially all  modulations  of  tone  color,  is  made  impossible 
by  such  a  method. 

Of  course  there  is  a  certain  natural  effect  of  animation 
which  should  be  secured  before  work  upon  intensity  is 
begun.  All  life  expands,  and  a  diffusion  of  We  must 
precede  control.  Volume  is  the  natural  expression  of 
animation.  Hence,  there  is  a  certain  awakening  of 
greater  life,  increase  of  breath,  and  volume  of  tone 


HEIGHT   OF   THE   SOUND   WAVES  279 

which  is  the  free  manifestation  of  animation.  This 
simple  expansion,  up  to  a  certain  point,  that  is,  when 
there  is  no  forcing  of  the  volume  for  its  own  sake,  is 
natural,  normal,  and  a  necessary  stage  in  all  practice. 

Even  in  this  case,  however,  the  student  must  be 
careful  to  increase  the  central  conditions  rather  than 
the  outward  modulation;  that  is  to  say,  the  increase  of 
animation,  or  of  life  from  the  first  should  cause  increase 
of  the  amount  of  breath  and  the  openness  of  the  tone 
passage  rather  than  the  volume. 

Certain  students,  or  those  who  have  made  their  tone 
weak  by  repression,  may  need  special  attention  for 
freedom  and  outward  demonstration.  Even  hi  such 
cases,  however,  any  practice  must  be  temporary.  It  is 
only  an  expedient  to  eliminate  restrictive  tendencies 
and  to  give  greater  freedom  to  normal  expansion.  Such 
repression  or  constriction  may  interfere  even  with  the 
establishment  of  right  conditions.  Whenever  this  is 
found  there  must  be  outward  demonstration  as  a  means  of 
awakening  a  sense  of  the  inner  life,  but  once  this  has 
been  done  then  freedom  must  be  given  to  conditions 
more  than  to  modulations.  The  transition  will  not  be  a 
difficult  one  with  such  students.  When  once  the  habit 
of  repression  and  control  has  been  formed  the  sponta- 
neous manifestation  will  be  the  more  difficult  step. 

I.   PROJECTION   OF   TONE. 

What  is  meant  by  strength  of  voice?  It  is  certainly 
not  the  same  as  loudness,  nor  is  weakness  of  voice 
synonymous  with  simplicity.  The  first  test  is  its  carry- 
ing power.  Can  it  be  heard  at  a  distance?  That  is 
of  vital  moment.  Upon  what  does  this  depend?  Every- 
one should  experiment  to  find  this  out  for  himself,  as 
he  is  sure  to  be  skeptical  when  told  the  real  facts  in 
the  case. 

Go  out  into  the  fields  with  a  friend.    Read  or  speak 


280  MIND   AND    VOICE 

a  few  lines  and  let  the  other  say  whether  you  are  heard 
or  not.  Then  separating  farther  and  farther,  endeavor 
to  speak  as  easily  as  possible,  but  in  different  ways,  and 
find  out  in  what  way  you  can  be  heard  best  by  the  other. 
The  same  experiment  may  be  made  hi  a  large  hall. 

The  result  of  such  experiments,  if  practiced  with 
proper  care,  will  be  the  correction  of  many  common 
misconceptions. 

The  chief  agent  in  projecting  the  voice  to  a  distance  or 
causing  words  to  be  heard  hi  a  large  hall,  is  the  sympa- 
thetic retention  of  breath,  or  the  stimulation  of  activity 
in  the  middle  of  the  body,  which  may  be  called  support. 

The  second  condition  is  openness  of  the  tone  passage, 
or  free  emission  of  sound.  There  must  be  largeness 
of  vowels,  richness  of  vibration  in  the  articulation  of 
the  consonants ;  nothing  must  be  labored. 

Third,  and  closely  related  to  the  foregoing,  is  vocal 
quantity.  Every  vowel  must  have  the  same  relative 
quantity  it  has  in  conversation,  though  extended  and 
enlarged. 

The  fourth  quality  to  be  noticed  is  distinctness  in 
articulation.  This  does  not  mean  laboredness,  nor 
constriction.  Distinctness  in  articulation,  as  will  be 
explained,  means  an  unmixed  condition.  Every  element 
has  its  own  fundamental  action  and  a  free  return  of 
this  to  a  state  of  rest. 

The  fifth  condition  is  that  the  hearer  will  understand 
in  proportion  to  the  change  of  pitch  between  words  and 
phrases.  Words  must  come  individually  to  the  ear. 
Speakers  who  cannot  be  heard  with  ease  usually  "  run 
words  together,"  and  when  on  the  same  pitch  this  seems 
unavoidable.  Variation  of  pitch  between  words  is  much 
more  important  than  is  commonly  recognized.  It  is 
the  most  effective  element  of  naturalness,  since  it  en- 
ables the  speaker  to  be  easy,  and  removes  all  effort  from 
speaking. 


HEIGHT   OF   THE   SOUND   WAVES  281 

The  sixth,  last,  and  least  important  cause  of  being 
heard  at  a  distance  is  the  increase  of  loudness. 

The  importance  of  being  heard  when  speaking  in  a 
large  place  demands  careful  attention.  Speakers,  when 
embarrassed,  often  strain  the  voice  and  give  it  a  hard 
mechanical  thrust.  Strained  loudness  interferes  with 
all  the  natural  resonance  and  delicate  modulations  of 
the  voice. 

The  increase  of  the  carrying  power  of  the  voice  de- 
mands no  strain,  no  labored  effort,  but  simply  emphasis 
of  the  fundamental  conditions  of  tone. 

The  speaker  should  preserve  ease,  look  at  his  auditors, 
and  distribute  his  truths  to  them  phrase  by  phrase.  It 
is  well  when  beginning  to  speak,  especially  if  in  an  un- 
familiar place,  to  proceed  deliberately  with  the  first 
phrases,  to  search  for  what  has  been  called  the  "  key  " 
of  the  hall,  and  feel  the  sympathetic  vibrations  that  come 
from  the  entire  room.  In  some  of  the  largest  audience 
rooms  in  the  world  a  natural  sympathetic  resonance  of 
the  voice  will  enable  it  to  be  carried  to  the  farthest  cor- 
ners, but  any  increase  of  loudness  or  unnatural  elevation 
of  pitch  will  awaken  a  roar  of  discordant  vibrations 
which  will  entirely  prevent  the  man  from  being  heard. 

In  a  well  constructed  audience  room,  deliberation, 
the  right  command  of  the  voice,  especially  the  breath, 
vocal  quantity,  good  articulation,  and  natural  variation 
in  pitch  between  words,  will  enable  almost  anyone  to  be 
heard  by  as  many  as  ten  thousand  people. 

Instead,  however,  of  obeying  these  instructions  the 
ordinary  speaker  increases  loudness,  and  this  only  upon 
a  vowel  here  and  there  which  happens  to  fit  his 
mouth.  His  sound  is  easily  heard,  but  his  words  are 
not  understood.  Most  men,  in  making  an  effort  to 
speak,  increase  the  pitch,  eliminate  natural  changes, 
and  necessarily  become  monotonous.  This  results  from 
a  misconception.  Fog-horns  and  sounds  intended  to 


282  MIND   AND   VOICE 

be  heard  on  the  ocean  are  low-pitched.  One  who  can 
manage  his  voice  properly  can  make  a  sound  heard  on  a 
low  pitch  better  than  on  a  high  one,  but  better  than 
either,  in  the  natural  speech  centre  of  his  voice. 

Again  a  hardening  of  the  tone,  a  shrillness  or  harsh- 
ness, will  be  noticed  in  many  persons. 

In  nearly  every  such  case  sympathetic  variation  and 
change  of  pitch  are  eliminated.  The  intervals  between 
words  are  not  only  a  characteristic  of  naturalness,  and 
aid  one  in  being  heard  and  understood  at  a  distance,  but 
they  are  also  of  great  importance  in  articulation.  Yet, 
of  all  modulations,  intervals  are  most  overlooked.  Not 
only  is  change  of  pitch  between  words  and  phrases 
necessary  to  the  hearer,  but  of  vital  moment  to  the 
speaker.  It  invites  a  re -adjustment  of  voice  conditions; 
prevents  strain  of  the  vocal  bands;  permits  a  natural 
and  freer  modulation  of  the  voice;  gives  greater  range; 
and  aids  the  speaker  in  presenting  his  ideas  to  his 
audience. 

Change  of  pitch  is  of  special  moment  to  the  actor.  A 
player  cannot  bawl  unnaturally  and  on  one  pitch;  he 
must  suggest  naturalness  in  order  to  avoid  artificiality. 
He  must  give  the  appearance  of  the  simplicity  of  con- 
versation, and  at  the  same  time  be  heard  by  two  or  three 
thousand  people. 

Joseph  Jefferson,  for  example,  in  one  scene  of  "  Rip 
Van  Winkle,"  took  a  little  boy  upon  his  knee  and  talked 
to  him  in  the  most  natural  way;  and  yet  every  word 
and  syllable  was  heard,  by  three  thousand  people. 
When  over  seventy  years  of  age  he  could  still  be  heard 
by  every  person  in  the  very  farthest  corner  of  the  gallery. 
How  did  he  do  this?  Only  the  few  who  know  some- 
thing of  the  difficulties  of  the  situation  and  carefully  ob- 
served his  mastery  of  voice  can  appreciate  his  victory. 
He  took  a  great  deal  of  breath  into  his  lungs,  and  gave 
rich  vowel  resonance  and  natural  vocal  quantity.  His 


HEIGHT   OF   THE    SOUND    WAVES  283 

articulation  was  not  at  all  labored,  but  simple  and  dis- 
tinct, and,  above  all,  every  word  came  on  a  different 
pitch  as  an  individual  whole,  supported,  projected,  and 
directed.  Jefferson  enlarged  his  conversational  form, 
but  kept  every  element  so  natural  that  all  he  said 
sounded  like  the  simplest  conversation.  Naturalness 
does  not  depend  upon  size  but  upon  form  and  pro- 
portion. 

The  untrained  speaker  places  his  words  on  one  pitch, 
abnormally  high,  and  to  make  his  voice  strong  he  forces 
out  breath  where  he  should  retain  it,  constricts  instead 
of  expanding  his  chest,  and  accordingly  loses  the  proper 
centrality  and  ease  in  tone  production.  As  a  result  his 
voice  becomes  strained  and  weak,  where  a  right  use 
of  the  conditions  would  have  brought  vigor  and  caused 
his  words  to  be  carried  to  a  great  distance.  Labored 
tone  production  interferes  with  inflexions,  touch,  changes 
of  pitch,  and  makes  wholly  impossible  any  modulations 
of  color. 

Voice  is  not  the  result  of  great  labor.  It  is  simply  vi- 
bration. The  ringing  of  a  bell  does  not  depend  so  much 
upon  the  strength  applied  to  the  stroke  of  the  hammer, 
or  upon  the  size  of  the  hammer,  as  upon  the  size  of  the 
bell  and  the  delicacy  of  the  application  of  force  to  initiate 
the  vibrations.  Constrictions  and  strains  interfere  with 
the  power  of  voice.  They  introduce  false  vibrations  or 
discords  in  the  overtones,  which  make  the  tone  un- 
pleasant, and  interfere  with  the  fundamental  vibrations 
that  cause  it  to  carry  to  a  distance. 

Hence,  we  can  see  the  necessity  of  the  law  stated  by 
many  of  the  greatest  vocal  trainers,  —  namely,  "  purity 
before  power."  Whenever  an  endeavor  is  put  forth 
dynamically  to  make  a  voice  loud  and  strong,  its  finer 
qualities  are  lost. 

Why  does  naturalness  help  a  speaker  to  be  heard  at 
a  distance?  Because  the  variations  of  pitch,  the  right 


284  MIND   AND   VOICE 

rhythmic  pulsation,  bring  action  and  reaction.  Natural- 
ness increases  not  only  the  amount  of  breath,  but  the 
rhythmic  pulsation  of  breathing.  The  number  of  times 
one  breathes  also  increases.  The  speaker  can  manage 
his  breath  more  easily,  and  voice  breathing  does  not 
interfere  with  life  breathing.  The  natural  voice  is  the 
only  one  we  can  truly  manage.  Not  only  is  it  necessary 
for  expression,  but  often  for  the  purpose  of  making  the 
words  heard  at  a  great  distance. 

Good  illustrations  of  the  correctness  of  these  sugges- 
tions will  be  found  in  the  art  of  song.  How  does  a  great 
vocal  artist,  such  as  Albani,  Nordica,  or  Sembrich, 
when  using  a  tone  so  delicate  as  hardly  to  be  heard, 
yet  make  the  words  spoken  understood  by  five  or  six 
thousand  people?  In  a  large  hall  I  once  heard  Albani 
sing  "  The  Last  Rose  of  Summer,"  and  I  happened  to 
be  one  of  those  farthest  removed  from  her.  Yet  in  a 
tone  barely  audible  she  caused  every  word  to  be  under- 
stood by  everyone.  She  retained  a  large  amount  of 
breath  in  her  lungs  and  though  making  the  softest 
tone  possible,  kept  the  tone  passage  widely  open  and 
free  from  constriction.  In  this  way,  the  sympathetic 
as  well  as  the  primary  vibrations  were  carried  to  a 
great  distance. 

This  accentuation  is  one  of  the  chief  characteristics  of 
the  singing  of  a  true  artist.  I  once  heard  a  most  illus- 
trious singer,  in  fact  the  most  popular  in  the  world  in  her 
day,  sing  her  favorite  song,  "  Home,  Sweet  Home."  But 
the  soft  parts  of  it  were  lost  because  they  did  not  carry  as 
far  as  the  loud  ones. 

There  is  a  class  of  singers,  called  shouters  by  some, 
who  bawl  and  scream  and  make  a  tremendous  noise  in 
certain  parts  of  a  song,  while  the  lower  and  softer  parts 
seem  to  fall  at  their  feet. 

At  first  thought  many  will  see  no  reason  why  a  pure 
tone  has  anything  to  do  with  the  carrying  of  words  to  a 


HEIGHT   OF   THE   SOUND   WAVES  285 

distance,  but  if  we  listen  to  a  band  playing  in  the  midst 
of  a  noisy  street,  we  shall  find  as  we  get  farther  and 
farther  away,  that  the  noises  are  dropped,  while  the 
sound  of  the  band  is  carried  over  all  the  buildings  and 
through  all  the  discordant  vibrations  to  a  great  distance. 

Nature  loves  to  carry  a  pure  tone.  The  reason  for 
this  is  that  sound  waves  and  vibrations  are  regular. 
Noise  is  irregularity  of  sound  waves  which  break  up 
against  each  other  like  irregular  waves  in  a  choppy  sea; 
while  regular  vibrations,  like  the  great  ocean  waves 
rising  in  response  to  a  wind  blowing  steadily  in  one 
direction  for  a  long  time,  get  a  momentum  to  carry  afar, 
"  Telling,"  as  Mrs.  Browning  says,  "  the  shore  of  the 
distant  storm."  A  strong  sea  may  be  felt  far  away 
where  there  is  no  wind  to  indicate  the  cause. 

Accordingly  in  these  examples  we  recognize  the  prin- 
ciple which  underlies  right  qualities.  Strength  of  voice 
and  its  purity  as  well  depend  upon  the  transcendence 
of  activity  in  the  middle  of  the  body  over  passivity  of  the 
throat. 

Every  step  that  has  been  taken  so  far  is  the  best  not 
only  for  developing  the  right  qualities  of  the  voice  but 
for  increasing  its  power.  Every  vibration  must  be  made 
correct  and  regular  and  the  sympathetic  vibrations 
must  be  brought  into  harmonious  union  before  strength 
of  voice  can  be  attained. 

When  exercises  in  forced  tones  are  used  to  strengthen 
the  muscles  and  voice,  good  results  may  seem  to  follow 
at  first,  but  in  most  cases,  the  improvement  will  be 
only  temporary,  for  sore  throat  and  frequently  loss  of 
voice  will  ensue.  Power  must  never  be  gained  by 
forcing.  The  voice  must  grow  naturally.  The  accen- 
tuation of  the  fundamental  conditions  will  begin  to 
strengthen  the  muscles  concerned  in  tone  production, 
especially  the  diaphragm,  and  strength  will  come  nor- 
mally. Abnormal  use  of  the  voice,  or  any  forcing  pro- 


286  MIND   AND   VOICE 

cess,  may  strengthen  the  constriction  that  causes  the 
fault. 

First  secure  correct  tone  production,  establish  normal 
co-ordination,  and  learn  to  use  the  right  parts  in  the 
right  way.  Then  accentuate,  or  increase  the  funda- 
mental conditions,  and  growth  and  development  of  right 
qualities  and  normal  control  will  accompany  the  strength- 
ening of  the  voice.  The  first  thing  to  secure  is  accuracy 
and  normal  relationship;  strength  will  come  later. 
Attention  must  first  be  given  to  quality  and  afterward 
to  power. 

II.   SUPPORT   OF   THE   TONE. 

The  true  method  of  increasing  the  strength  or  power 
of  the  voice,  after  the  development  of  the  essential 
qualities,  is  through  increasing  what  is  technically  known 
as  "  support."  This  depends  upon  the  control,  or  re- 
tention of  the  greatest  possible  amount  of  breath  in  the 
lungs  during  the  emission  of  tone. 

How  can  we  "  keep  the  breath  under  the  voice?  " 
That  is,  how  can  we  speak  on  a  full  chest,  how  strengthen 
the  inspiratory  muscles  so  that  we  can  speak  naturally 
with  a  larger  quantity  of  air  in  the  lungs?  This  has 
already  been  discussed,  but  to  develop  support  or  secure 
strength  of  voice,  renewed  observation  of  the  facts  of 
breathing  will  be  necessary.  These  fundamental  con- 
ditions of  tone  must  be  increased  still  more  to  increase 
support.  Under  the  topic  Economy  of  Breath  the  dis- 
cussion of  the  importance  and  necessity  of  speaking 
with  more  breath  than  usual  hi  the  lungs  was  begun. 
While  reserve  of  breath  is  necessary  even  for  right 
vibration,  support  of  tone  implies  still  greater  surplus 
or  reserve  of  breath  in  the  lungs.  The  subject  must 
now  be  taken  up  from  the  point  of  view  of  support. 

To  understand  the  subject  more  definitely  we  may 
roughly  indicate  five  imaginary  points  according  to  the 


HEIGHT   OF   THE   SOUND   WAVES  287 

amount  of  breath  reserved  in  the  lungs  during  possible 
speech.  These  divisions  are  artificial  but  helpful,  if 
not  necessary,  to  a  definite  understanding. 

1.  We  can  speak  with  the  average  amount  of  air,  say 
what  we  ordinarily  have  when  sitting;   the  average,  of 
course,  is  greater  in  standing  than  in  sitting,  in  walking 
than  in  standing,  and  in  running  than  in  walking,  but 
we  will  imagine  an  average  amount  of  life  breath. 

2.  We  can  speak  with  a  little  more  breath  in  the  lungs 
than  the  average. 

3.  We  can  speak  with  less  breath  than  the  average. 

4.  We  may  expand  the  lungs  by  labor  and  speak  with 
the  greatest  possible  amount  of  breath  —  that  is,  with 
forced  inspiration. 

5.  We  may  speak  with  a  labored  expiration  of  the 
breath,  and  with  as  little  breath  in  the  lungs  as  possible. 

At  which  of  these  points,  —  which  of  course,  vary, 
but  may  be  considered  stationary  for  the  sake  of 
discrimination,  —  can  we  make  the  best  tone? 

We  recognize  at  once  that  the  forced  expiration  (5) 
is  the  worst  possible  for  tone.  The  tone  is  weak,  con- 
stricted, and  cramped  and  could  not  possibly  carry  to 
any  distance.  It  has  no  richness  of  vibration. 

A  forced  inspiration  (4)  is  found  to  be  only  a  little 
better,  for  when  the  heavy  muscles  are  introduced  and 
a  labored  inspiration  of  air  is  taken,  the  tone  is  corre- 
spondingly constricted. 

Many  persons  speak  with  the  breath  at  about  (i)  the 
same  degree  with  that  of  life,  and  some  even  speak 
with  less  breath  (3)  than  they  have  when  walking  about 
or  sitting,  or  even  in  sleep.  These  people  have  weak 
voices.  They  are  always  tired  after  speaking.  Head- 
aches and  all  sorts  of  abnormal  conditions  occur  after 
using  the  voice.  Intellectual  men  sometimes  have  tnis 
fault.  Accustomed  to  earnest  thinking,  concentration 
of  mind  tends  to  contract  their  bodies,  and  lessen  breath- 


288  MIND   AND   VOICE 

ing.  Their  thinking  is  abstract;  they  tend  to  repress 
imagination  and  feeling,  and,  hence,  their  mental  effort 
instead  of  normally  expanding  the  body  and  opening  the 
throat,  tends  to  cramp  the  chest  and  to  constrict  the 
tone  passage. 

When  the  breath,  in  making  a  tone,  is  greater  in 
amount  than  the  average  (2)  there  will  be  normal  return 
to  life  breathing  after  speaking  a  phrase,  while  the  vital 
functions  will  not  suffer  any  interference,  but  receive 
rather  a  proper  stimulation  from  the  use  of  the  voice. 
Hence,  the  exercise  of  the  voice  with  more  breath  in  the 
lungs  than  usual  is  healthful. 

In  proportion  to  the  amount  of  breath  that  can  be 
easily  retained  in  the  lungs  during  the  production  of 
tone  will  the  voice  be  strong.  This  increase  in  the  re- 
tained breath  does  not  make  the  voice  harder,  but,  on 
the  contrary,  more  resonant,  richer  in  sympathetic 
vibrations.  It  has  more  life  and  greater  capability  of 
expressing  imagination  and  passion. 

Accordingly,  in  the  practice  of  "  starts  "  and  other 
exercises,  as  soon  as  correctness  of  response  is  estab- 
lished right  co-ordination,  natural  action,  right  initia- 
tion, proper  relaxation  of  all  unnecessary  parts  and 
correct  use  of  necessary  ones,  then  begins  the  work 
of  positive  training,  the  accentuation  of  primary  con- 
ditions, especially  retention  of  breath  and  true  vibration. 

The  "  starts  "  must  be  practiced  at  first  lightly  and 

easily,  with  only  slight  increase  in  the  funda- 

strength  and    mental  conditions,  but  gradually  the  amount 

Initiation. 

of  breath  must  be  increased.  They  must 
not  be  practiced  carelessly,  but  graded  by  the  successive 
accentuation  of  new  points,  such  as  the  enlargement  of 
the  vowels,  more  open  tone  passage,  greater  purity  of 
tone,  and  especially  from  first  to  last  a  gradual  but  con- 
stant increase  in  the  amount  of  retained  breath. 
The  same  principle  can  be  applied  to  other  exercises. 


HEIGHT   OF   THE   SOUND   WAVES  289 

There  must  not  only  be  a  greater  retention  of  breath, 
but  more  sympathetic  relaxation  of  the  tone  passage; 
in  short,  a  deeper  co-ordination  and  accentuation  of  the 
fundamental  principle,  with  each  repetition  of  any  exer- 
cise. Mere  practice  of  an  easy  exercise,  in  exactly  the 
same  way,  without  any  greater  realization  of  the  principle 
involved,  or  without  any  endeavor  to  improve  or  to  in- 
crease the  fundamental  conditions  or  activities  of  correct 
speech,  will  not  develop  power.  First  learn  the  right  con- 
ditions, and  then  normally  accentuate  the  primary  ele- 
ments. This  is  the  true  progression  and  right  method 
of  increasing  the  strength  of  the  voice. 

Strength  of  voice  is  needed  not  merely  by  public 
speakers,  readers,  actors,  and  singers,  but  it  is  closely 
connected  with  the  health  of  everyone.  Any  weakness 
should  at  once  be  corrected. 

Why  are  business  men  worn  out  after  important  inter- 
views, especially  in  the  busy  season?  Because  of  misuse 
of  the  voice.  Some  in  trying  to  speak  agreeably  and  to 
soften  the  voice  lessen  the  breathing  and  thus  weaken 
the  primary  conditions.  They  do  not  co-ordinate  breath- 
ing with  thinking  and  feeling  or  make  tone  soft  by  im- 
proving its  conditions,  but  lessen  the  amount  of  breath, 
often  by  so-called  "  bating  "  or  wasting  the  breath.  To 
aspirate  or  soften  a  tone  by  waste  of  breath  is  unhealth- 
ful  as  well  as  hindering  to  all  the  expressional  modula- 
tions of  the  voice. 

This  weakening  of  the  voice  while  softening  it  is 
especially  common  among  women  in  society,  many  of 
whom  are  prejudiced  against  hard,  shrill  voices,  and 
consequently,  not  knowing  the  right  method  of  softening 
the  tone  adopt  the  wrong  one  of  lessening  the  support. 
This  is  done  at  the  expense  of  health  and  vitality,  and 
induces  headache  and  a  long  train  of  evils,  nor  does  it 
make  the  voice  truly  pleasing.  True  softness  of  the 
voice  must  come  from  greater  openness,  purity,  and 


2QO  MIND   AND   VOICE 

the  enriching  of  its  secondary  vibrations.  One  of  the 
most  important  things  to  be  learned  is  how  to  make 
the  voice  intense,  and  at  the  same  time  rich  and 
resonant. 

I  am  aware  that  many  imagine  that  increasing  the 
support  will  coarsen  the  voice  or  make  it  loud,  but  this 
is  not  the  case.  Accentuation  of  fundamental  condi- 
tions will  make  it  richer  and  more  resonant,  will  de- 
crease the  loudness,  lessen  the  harshness  and  nar- 
row angularity,  so  common  among  all  classes  of  people. 

Notice  a  person  conversing  with  another  in  a  social 
gathering  or  in  a  car.  On  account  of  the  projection  of 
tone  everyone  can  hear  what  he  says.  He  is  uncon- 
sciously talking  to  all  persons  present.  This  high  pitch 
or  strident  projection  is  entirely  due  to  the  action  of  his 
mind  misusing  support.  Then,  many  people,  in  striving 
to  avoid  this  vulgar  fault,  fall  into  the  opposite  extreme 
by  weakening  the  voice.  The  softest  tone  must  be  sup- 
ported. Even  in  speaking  to  an  individual  close  by  we 
must  breathe  often  and  deeply.  All  true  use  of  the  voice 
demands  support  or  a  transcendence  of  conditions,  such 
as  retention  of  breath  over  the  volitional  expenditure  of 
energy.  Disagreeable  tones  result  from  having  more 
clapper  than  bell. 

In  the  development  of  strength  of  voice  a  fine  illustra- 
tion is  afforded  of  a  principle  in  training,  that  is,  the  dif- 
ference between  the  realm  of  ease  and  that  of  effort. 
At  first  the  realm  of  ease,  that  is,  free,  flexible  action  of 
an  agent,  is  extremely  narrow.  The  simplest  action 
causes  labor.  This  is  especially  true  of  every  action  con- 
cerned hi  voice  production.  There  is  an  increase  of 
activity  in  true  voice  production,  but  this  centres  in  the 
inspiratory  muscles  in  retaining  breath,  causes  the  voice 
to  be  more  resonant  and  prevents  waste  of  breath  and  of 
energy.  That  is,  the  more  breath  we  have  in  the  lungs, 
and  the  greater  effort  we  put  into  the  inspiratory  muscles 


HEIGHT   OF   THE   SOUND   WAVES  2QI 

retaining  breath,  the  less  effort  we  have  to  put  forth  in 
the  making  of  the  tone.  A  drum  that  is  not  in  good  con- 
dition nor  tuned  up  has  to  be  struck  harder  than  one 
with  every  part  elastic  and  the  two  heads  in  proper  ten- 
sion. It  takes  more  effort  to  play  a  gourd  fiddle  than  a 
Stradivarius  violin. 

We  find  here  one  reason  why  one  who  does  not  have 
much  breath  in  the  lungs  has  to  make  much  effort  in 
speaking,  effort  is  wrongly  directed.  An  old,  worn  out 
locomotive,  unable  to  maintain  high  pressure  or  a  large 
amount  of  steam,  has  to  cough  and  puff  and  make  much 
noise  to  get  up  a  small  grade,  while  a  strong  modern 
engine  with  its  power  of  retaining  heat  and  steam  will 
move  with  many  times  the  load  without  apparent  effort 
or  noise.  Power  is  in  no  sense  synonymous  with  effort. 
It  is  the  right  use  of  energy,  the  ability  to  produce  the 
maximum  effect  with  the  minimum  of  effort. 

As  support  of  tone  is  the  result  of  sympathetic  and 
harmonious  retention  of  the  breath  the  first  aim  must 
be  to  secure  this.  All  labored  action  must  be  avoided 
since  labored  condition  of  the  diaphragm  constricts  the 
tone,  instead  of  supporting  it.  Retention  of  breath  must 
be  sympathetic  at  all  hazards. 

Do  not,  however,  attempt  to  retain  too  much  breath 
at  first.  The  best  exercise  is  "  initiation  of  tone."  This 
should  be  reviewed  at  every  point  in  the  student's 
progress,  constantly  but  gradually  increasing  the  amount 
of  breath  retained. 

In  connection  with  continuity  of  conditions  the  results 
of  practicing  the  starts  should  be  applied  Exercise86 
to   speech.      Frequently,   though   the   voice  conditions  ' 
improves  in  giving  the  start,  there  seems  to 
be  difficulty  in  applying  the  results  to  a  series  of  words. 

Give  "  ah  "  or  "  o  "  and  then  a  phrase  from  a  poem; 
following  by  another  "  ah  "  and  then  another  phrase, 
then  another  "  ah  "  without  breathing  or  changing  the 


2Q2  MIND   AND   VOICE 

conditions,  the  only  changes  being  the  easy  and  free 
articulation  of  the  successive  words.  Keep  the  conditions 
of  openness  in  the  throat  and  reserve  of  the  breath 
exactly  the  same  whether  giving  a  tone  or  speaking  a 
word.  Allow  especially  no  waste  of  breath  in  consonants 
or  change  in  freedom  of  tone  in  successive  vowels.  Then 
give  free  inflexions  and  read  the  whole  passage  apply- 
ing all  conditions  to  speech. 

Ah !  't  is  like  a  tale  of  olden 
,  Time,  long,  long  ago, 

When  the  world  was  in  its  golden 

Prime,  and  Love  was  lord  below. 
Every  vein  of  earth  was  dancing 

With  Spring's  new  wine; 
'T  was  the  pleasant  time  of  flowers, 

When  I  met  you,  love  mine. 
Ah!  some  spirit  sure  was  staying 

Out  of  heaven,  that  day, 
When  I  met  you,  love,  a-Maying 

In  that  merry,  merry  May. 
From  "A  Love  Lyric "  Gerald  Massey. 

0  LARK  OF  TEE  SUMMER  MORNING. 

I  love  to  lie  in  the  clover, 

With  the  lark  like  a  speck  in  the  sky, 

While  its  small  sweet  throat  runneth  over 
With  praise  it  sendeth  on  high. 

0  lark  of  the  summer  morning, 

Teach,  teach  me  the  song  that  you  sing, 

1  would  learn  without  lightness  or  scorning, 

To  give  praise  for  every  good  thing. 

O  lark  of  the  summer  morning ! 

Give,  give  me  of  praying  the  key, 
And  I  '11  learn  without  lightness  or  scorning 

As  I  did  at  my  own  mother's  knee. 
From  the  Japanese  Not  Known. 

This  exercise  develops  the  active  retention  of  the 
breath  and  sustains  the  conditions  while  the  organs  of 
articulation"  are  acting.  As  every  other  important  exer- 


HEIGHT   OF   THE   SOUND   WAVES  2Q3 

cise,  it  not  only  improves  conditions  of  tone,  but  at  the 
same  time  develops  enunciation. 

Further  exercises  can  also  be  taken,  such  as  scales 
and  variations  of  key  with  continuity  of  support. 

Any  exercise  that  accentuates  fundamental  conditions 
and  causes  these  to  be  sustained  during  changes  in  the 
articulation,  variations  of  the  vocal  bands  or  transitions 
in  emotion  or  situation,  will  also  be  helpful.  Support 
means  increasing  such  fundamental  conditions  as  keeping 
the  right  amount  of  breath  in  the  lungs,  no  matter  whether 
we  are  making  a  soft  tone  or  a  loud  one,  no  matter 
whether  we  are  giving  a  demonstrative  or  emphatic  ex- 
pression or  one  tender  and  sympathetic.  The  support 
must  be  practically  the  same  because  all  must  have 
equal  life,  and  vigor,  and  must  be  heard  at  the  same 
distance. 

The  law  of  support  may  be  thus  stated :  that  which  is 
more  central  must  always  sustain  and  justify  that  which 
is  nearer  the  surface.  Accordingly,  that  which  supports 
everything  in  expression  is  the  thinking.  This  is  why 
genuineness  of  thinking  and  feeling  must  be  especially 
emphasized.  Next  to  this  the  expression  of  the  face,  the 
position  of  the  whole  body,  its  expansion  and  rhythm 
must  justify  all  vocal  expression. 

There  are  many  mysteries  in  connexion  with  the 
voice  explained  possibly  by  subtlety  of  support.  For 
example,  a  speaker  can  see  one  man  in  his  audience  who 
is  listless,  and  hit  him  with  his  voice  so  as  to  make  him 
jump.  The  chief  reason  is  that  direction  of  attention 
causes  him  to  project  the  tone.  Support  is  the  direct 
expression  of  a  mental  act. 

Anyone  can  prove  this.  When  you  speak  to  a  specific 
person  in  a  specific  direction,  there  is  a  mysterious  send- 
ing of  the  voice  to  just  the  right  spot  and  to  just  the  right 
distance.  One  may  have  observed  a  nurse  or  a  mother 
when  calling  a  child  projecting  the  tone  to  a  great  dis- 


2Q4  MIND   AND   VOICE 

tance.  Then  the  child  shows  his  head  close  by  and 
laughs,  showing  that  he  knew  by  the  way  his  mother 
projected  her  tone  where  she  thought  he  was.  The 
mind,  in  some  mysterious  way,  dominates  the  breath- 
ing and  sends  the  voice  to  the  right  degree  of  distance ; 
but  this  is  not  all.  The  voice  can  be  sent  in  a  spe- 
cific direction,  or  diffused  indefinitely  in  all  directions. 

We  have  here  a  hint  for  some  simple  exercises  to 
develop  support.  Study  your  breathing  and  notice  that 
increasing  it  does  not  necessarily  increase  loudness  or 
make  the  pitch  higher;  but  may  serve  as  the  means  of 
accomplishing  many  things,  one  of  these  is  the  sending 
of  the  voice  to  a  distance.  We  find  also  that  our  feel- 
ings, thoughts,  emotions,  and  imaginations,  establish 
through  the  body  certain  conditions  for  voice,  while  at 
the  same  time  there  is  a  delicate  volitional  act  of  initiat- 
ing or  modulating  the  tone.  Vocal  training  is  primarily 
dependent  upon  the  stimulation  and  development  of 
such  conditions.  We  can  distinguish  these  from  cer- 
tain modulations  of  the  voice,  such  as  inflexion,  change 
of  pitch,  pause,  and  touch,  more  or  less  actively  pro- 
duced by  will  in  the  direct  modulation  of  the  tone. 

To  develop  support  render  passages  expressing  dis- 
tance or  different  degrees  of  distance,  dif- 

Exercise  87. 

support  and  f  erent  directions,  great  extent  of  space,  such 
as  breadth,  or  height,  and  observe  the  effect 
of  mental  action  upon  the  respiratory  conditions.  The 
first  and  the  easiest  to  indicate  is  the  sense  of  dis- 
tance. Observe,  for  example,  how  the  voice  can  sug- 
gest the  Roman  fathers  speaking  across  the  Tiber,  while 
the  explanatory  clause  given  by  the  speaker  himself 
has  no  such  projection.  When  anyone  hears  a  shout 
from  far  off  hills  or  in  deep  woods,  though  not  a  word 
be  understood,  he  knows  at  once  that  the  speaker  is 
calling  to  an  individual  at  a  distance.  Generally  the 
direction  is  also  indicated. 


HEIGHT    OF   THE    SOUND    WAVES  295 

"  Come  back,  come  back,  Horatius!  "    Loud  cried  the  fathers  all. 
"  Back,  Lartius!  back,  Herminius!    Back,  ere  the  ruin  fall!  " 

Thomas  Macaulay. 

In  addition  to  direction  we  can  suggest  degrees  of  dis- 
tance. In  this  the  knight  with  the  flag  may  be  located 
imaginatively  in  one  direction  afar  off,  the  maids  in 
another  and  nearer  at  hand.  The  gunners  at  a  still 
greater  distance  in  a  different  direction.  The  gallants 
may  be  imagined  immediately  around  the  speaker. 
Observe  how  all  these,  or  others,  according  to  the  con- 
ception of  the  speaker,  can  be  indicated  by  one  who  has 
control  of  his  breathing,  and  whose  body  and  all  the  con- 
ditions of  his  tone  immediately  respond  to  his  thought. 

Ho !    strike  the  flag-staff  deep,  Sir  Knight  —  ho !    scatter  flowers, 

fair  maids: 

Ho!  gunners,  fire  a  loud  salute  —  ho!  gallants,  draw  your  blades. 

Macaulay. 

Sometimes,  when  seeking  for  someone  at  a  distance, 
but  in  what  direction  is  uncertain,  a  speaker  will  send 
out  a  call  in  all  directions,  as  in  the  first  of  the  following. 
Notice  in  some  of  the  others  the  sense  of  height  and 
extent. 

Ho,  Starbuck  and  Pickney  and  Tenterden! 

Run  for  your  shallops,  gather  your  men, 

Scatter  your  boats  on  the  lower  bay. 

Miller. 

I  would  call  upon  all  the  true  sons  of  New  England  to  co-operate 
with  the  laws  of  man  and  the  justice  of  Heaven. 

Roll  on  ye  stars!    Exult  in  youthful  prime; 

Mark  in  bright  curves  the  printless  steps  of  time. 

Darwin. 

The  cloud-capped  towers,  the  gorgeous  palaces, 
The  solemn  temples,  the  great  globe  itself,  — 
Yea,  all  which  it  inherit,  shall  dissolve, 
And,  like  this  unsubstantial  pageant,  faded,  — 

Leave  not  a  rack  behind. 
"  The  Tempest "  Shakespeare. 


2Q6  MIND   AND    VOICE 

XXII.     FORCE  IN   MODULATIONS   AND 
CONDITIONS 

If  we  observe  the  use  of  our  breath  in  making  voice  we 
easily  perceive  that  a  small  part  of  the  breath  is  used 
actively  to  pass  between  the  vocal  bands  and  initiate  the 
tone,  while  a  much  larger  amount  is  retained  in  the 
lungs. 

We  may  illustrate  this  by  the  difference  between  the 
drum  and  the  stick.  The  drum  is  acted  upon.  The  stick 
is  the  active  agent.  Man's  vocal  bands,  and  his  whole 
body,  including  especially  the  lungs,  is  put  into  vibration 
by  the  active  use  of  a  small  part  of  his  breath.  Another 
illustration  is  a  violin.  The  whole  instrument  is  attuned, 
and  the  bow  then  produces  the  sound.  As  in  all  cases 
the  drum  transcends  the  stick,  the  violin  its  bow;  so 
the  amount  of  breath  reserved  far  transcends  the  small 
amount  actively  used  as  the  agent  of  initiating  the  tone. 

Over  against  these,  we  can  distinguish  another 
class  of  expressive  elements,  such  as  the  modulations 
of  resonance  or  tone  color  which  are  still  more  de- 
pendent upon  the  primary  conditions  of  the  voice.  We 
can  make  an  inflexion  by  will  but  not  tone  color. 
This  must  result  from  the  diffusion  of  emotion  through 
the  voice  and  body. 

This  distinction  leads  to  the  understanding  of  certain 
facts.  For  example,  with  a  lack  of  control  of  the  voice, 
mere  demonstrativeness  or  giving  up  of  ourselves  to  the 
first  tendency  of  emotion,  loudness  will  result.  But  if 
the  emotion  be  controlled,  if  there  be  a  reserve  of  the 
first  tendency  to  cry  out,  then  emotion  passes  into  con- 
ditions. The  conditions  are  greatly  increased  and  inten- 
sified, while  the  volume  of  the  tone  when  expression 
does  follow  is  greatly  lessened.  This  has  been  named 
intensity,  which  is  antithetic  to  volume.  Loudness  ex- 
presses not  only  demonstrativeness  but  objectivity  and 


HEIGHT    OF   THE   SOUND   WAVES  2Q7 

a  lack  of  sympathy.  Intensity,  on  the  other  hand,  ex- 
presses depth  of  feeling. 

We  find  that  in  proportion  to  the  reserve  of  the  emotion 
it  will  be  diffused  through  the  whole  body  and  there  will 
be  a  far  greater  number  of  sympathetic  vibrations  from 
all  parts.  The  whole  body  by  this  process  is  attuned 
harmoniously,  the  number  of  overtones  is  possibly  also 
increased,  the  number  of  accessory  or  sympathetic  vibra- 
tions greatly  augmented. 

Loudness  is  antithetic  to  resonance;  that  is  to  say, 
in  proportion  to  the  direction  of  energy  to  the  increase 
of  the  height  of  the  sound  waves  there  will  be  less  power 
to  modify  their  shape. 

All  of  these  facts  are  consistent  with  each  other.  We 
must,  in  short,  direct  the  emotion  to  the  establishment 
of  conditions  rather  than  to  the  direct  and  immediate 
causing  of  a  modulation.  We  must  speak  with  the  whole 
body  and  being,  it  must  be  brought  into  tune. 

As  much  breath  as  possible  must  be  retained  in  the 
lungs.  Conditions  must  always  transcend  modula- 
tions. Retention  of  feeling  must  rise  above  its  outward 
manifestation.  Expression  itself  is  but  a  sign  indicat- 
ing the  presence  of  emotion.  It  is  not  allowing  the 
emotion  to  run  to  waste.  The  retention  of  the  breath  is 
as  much  an  essential  condition  and  element  of  expres- 
sion as  allowing  a  small  amount  of  breath  to  pass 
between  the  vocal  bands.  Even  this  must  pass  sympa- 
thetically with  the  retained  breath  or  no  true  tone  can 
be  produced. 

I.   INTENSITY. 

Important  as  is  the  principle  of  support  to  the  strength- 
ening of  the  voice  it  has  a  much  wider  application. 
It  is  by  means  of  support  that  all  expression  is  rendered 
intense.    In  proportion  as  mere  loudness  or  the  elements 
of  outward  demonstration  are  accentuated,  will  there 


2Q8  MIND   AND   VOICE 

be  a  tendency  to  lack  of  control  and  weakness;  but  in 
proportion  to  the  accentuation  of  the  rentention  of  energy 
and  emotion  in  the  breath  and  body,  that  is,  in  the  con- 
ditions of  expression,  will  all  expression  have  dignity, 
weight  and  intensity.  Any  expression  is  intense  in  pro- 
portion to  the  activity  at  the  centre.  Superficial  expres- 
sion is  at  the  surface. 

Many  speak  of  certain  emotions  as  being  incapable 
of  intensity;  others  as  being,  in  their  nature  intense, 
but  any  emotion  can  be  intensified.  Joy,  love,  admira- 
tion, and  all  positive  emotions,  even  anger  and  nega- 
tive conditions,  can  be  made  intense,  and  in  proportion 
to  this  are  they  more  definite  and  dignified. 

In  training  the  voice  it  must  be  recognized  as  the  direct 
agent  of  feeling,  and  that  the  right  training  of  the  one 
must  be  associated  with  development  of  the  other. 
Command  of  voice  demands  power  to  define  and  intensify 
feeling.  Only  by  means  of  vocal  training  and  vocal 
expression,  rightly  conceived  and  practiced,  is  an  ade- 
quate method  found  for  the  right  understanding  and 
development  of  emotion. 

One  of  the  earliest  steps  toward  mastery  of  the  power 
to  intensify  feeling  and  express  it  with  decision  and 
dignity,  is  the  perception  of  the  fact  that  control  of  breath 
is  directly  associated  with  command  of  passion,  and 
mastery  of  passion  with  that  of  the  breath.  The  two  are 
mysteriously  co-ordinated. 

If  we  observe  a  child  sobbing  we  shall  find  that  as  it 
gains  control  over  its  feelings  it  secures  command  also 
over  its  breathing.  The  convulsive  sob  is  due  to  the 
extreme  character  of  passion,  or  possibly,  we  should 
say,  to  lack  of  control  over  it,  because  the  sob  is  found 
often  without  a  lack  of  intensity  in  the  emotion. 

Development  of  the  muscles  and  securing  of  the  right 
command  over  the  breathing  are  necessary  to  the  de- 
velopment of  mastery  over  passion.  The  muscles  of 


HEIGHT   OF   THE   SOUND    WAVES  299 

breathing  must  be  active  and  control  the  expression  of 
all  emotion. 

Of  all  the  emotions  the  most  difficult  to  interpret  by 
the  voice  is  pathos.  Why  is  this?  Because  sorrow  tends 
to  depress  vitality  and  to  lessen  the  support  of  tone. 

Here  an  important  principle  is  disclosed.  In  the  ex- 
pression of  any  emotion  there  are  two  sides  from  which 
to  choose.  First,  we  may  abandon  ourselves  to  the 
tendency  of  emotion  to  do  what  its  name  indicates, 
move  outward,  and  express  that;  or  we  may  express  the 
endeavor  to  control  the  feeling.  Sorrow,  for  example, 
naturally  results  in  depression  and  despair,  but  a  courage- 
ous human  being  endeavors  to  command  it.  Shall  we 
express  the  tendency  of  sorrow  toward  despair  or  the 
struggle  to  control  it?  The  first  expression  will  be  weak, 
the  second  strong.  The  first  will  bring  about  a  lessening 
of  breath  or  support  and  minor  inflections  and  tremulo; 
the  second  will  cause  an  increase  of  breath,  support  and 
all  proper  vocal  conditions.  The  first  will  degenerate 
into  a  whine ;  the  second  will  make  the  emotion  intense 
and  elevated  and  command  sympathy. 

Observe  also  the  difference  between  the  way  in  which 
a  strong  man  and  a  weak  one  express  earnestness.  The 
latter  allows  his  emotion  to  explode  suddenly,  to  reveal 
itself  by  bursts  of  loudness  which  generally  come  upon 
some  vowel  that  happens  to  fit  the  mouth.  His  uncon- 
trolled energy  causes  the  voice  to  rise  in  pitch.  In  the 
strong  man,  on  the  contrary,  the  energy  is  reserved  and 
controlled,  though  not  repressed.  The  whole  body  is 
expanded  and  made  more  erect.  There  is  an  increase 
in  breathing.  The  range  of  the  voice  is  extended,  the 
length  of  the  inflexions,  the  decision  of  touch  and  the 
ryhthmic  pulsations  become  more  pronounced.  In  short, 
the  energy  being  reserved,  though  not  repressed,  dif- 
fuses itself  through  the  whole  man,  sustains  all  the 
emotions  in  definite  attitudes,  kindles  the  face,  animates 


300  MIND   AND   VOICE 

the  whole  body  and  multiplies  the  modulations  of  the 
voice.  The  first  man  rants,  puts  on  an  appearance  of 
earnestness;  the  second  is  reserved,  but  he  moves 
others  by  his  suggestion  of  repose,  intensity,  and  the 
natural  signs  of  deep  feeling. 

The  same  principle  is  seen  in  joy.  Two  men  receive 
telegrams ;  one  becomes  greatly  excited ;  his  voice  goes 
up  to  a  high  key.  He  says  "  My  brother  is  coming!  " 
The  stronger  man  smiles,  his  voice  becomes  more 
intense,  purer  and  richer  in  vibration.  Though  he  may 
use  the  same  words,  how  different  is  the  effect! 

Loudness,  high  pitch,  and  hurry  are  the  three  chief 
methods  of  wasting  emotion.  Hence,  control  of  emotion 
acts  in  direct  opposition  to  these.  It  reserves  and  intensi- 
fies emotion,  and  this  multiplies  the  modulations  of  the 
voice.  These  wastes  of  emotion,  though  modes  of  ex- 
pression, are  really  expressive  of  weakness,  and  eliminate 
tone  color,  inflexion,  and  the  deeper  and  more  rational 
modulations  of  the  voice. 

Any  emotion  is  capable  of  being  expressed  in  weakness 
or  strength.  In  proportion  as  it  is  intense  it  suggests 
power.  It  is  like  steam;  it  becomes  intense  by  being 
retained.  A  locomotive  increases  its  force  by  increas- 
ing the  retention  of  the  steam  as  the  heat  increases. 
There  is  greater  pressure  and  with  this  added  inner 
vigor  a  gam  of  power.  There  exists  a  common  miscon- 
ception of  control.  Many  think  that  control  of  passion 
means  its  suppression.  On  the  contrary,  just  as  steam 
can  be  retained  without  putting  out  the  fire  or  lessen- 
ing its  energy,  but  rather  in  such  a  way  as  to  cause  an 
increase  of  the  pressure  and  force,  so  passion  in  ex- 
pression may  be  so  controlled,  regulated  and  guided  as 
to  increase  intensity. 

Controlled  passion  will  intensify  the  touches,  prolong 
pauses  and  thus  especially  increase  the  rhythm,  and 
dignify  all  the  elements  of  expression.  The  tendency  of 


HEIGHT   OF   THE   SOUND   WAVES  3OI 

many  persons  to  give  up  to  passion  gives  rise  to  impul- 
siveness, but  this  is  not  corrected  by  the  suppression  or 
the  killing  of  feeling.  As  a  horse  does  not  lose  his  force 
or  have  his  whole  life  suppressed  by  the  rein,  but  is 
brought  into  control,  and  his  strength  seemingly  increased 
by  this,  so  the  true  expression  of  passion  is  not  a  waste 
but  an  increase  of  feeling. 

There  is  always  a  strong  and  a  weak  aspect  of  any 
emotion.  The  strong  tends  toward  dignity,  life,  energy, 
courage  and  resolution.  A  noble  art  always  implies 
accentuation  of  the  strong  rather  than  the  weak  elements 
or  tendencies.  All  passion  should  be  expressed  as 
intensely  as  the  nature  of  the  situation  will  admit. 
When  any  feeling  is  given  intensity,  it  receives  dig- 
nity and  weight,  and  is  made  to  emphasize  what  is 
noble  in  human  nature. 

We  find  also  another  principle  involved.  In  order  to 
intensify  passion  we  must  increase  the  imaginative  and 
intellectual  action.  The  attention  must  be  sustained. 
The  imagination  is  like  the  fire  in  the  locomotive.  It  is 
the  stimulus  of  the  emotion. 

Intensity  is  also  closely  allied  to  repose.  When  an 
emotion  is  presented  as  if  it  were  on  the  down  grade 
rather  than  cumulative,  there  will  be  an  impression  of 
weakness.  Intensity  and  repose  demand  that  we  barely 
intimate  the  cause  of  an  emotion,  give  only  a  sign  of  its 
presence.  Expression  is  never  exhaustive.  "  Thy  light 
is  none  the  less  for  lighting  thy  neighbors."  We  never 
give  men  feeling;  we  only  intimate  to  them  that  we  have 
it  and  its  cause.  An  imaginative  picture  is  awakened  in 
the  mind  of  an  auditor,  and  this  picture  arouses  his  own 
feeling. 

True  expression  of  emotion  demands  its  control  and 
cumulation,  an  emphasis  of  the  mental  actions  that 
stimulate  it,  not  a  giving  way  to  the  tendency  of  the 
emotion,  but  realization  of  its  causes.  Minor  inflexions, 


302  MIND   AND   VOICE 

lessening  the  breath,  and  other  signs  of  weakness  are 
given  when  expressing  the  sense  of  exhaustion  or  un- 
controlled feeling,  and  the  result  is  weakness. 

How  does  intensity  of  thought  or  emotion  especially 
manifest  itself?  Primarily,  through  touch.  Touch,  as 
has  been  shown,  reveals  the  will,  and  is  strong  and 
decided  in  proportion  to  the  element  of  control.  Hence, 
pathos  or  any  emotion,  in  proportion  to  its  intensity, 
will  be  expressed  by  decision  of  touch  and  lengthening 
of  pauses.  Intensity  demands  greater  frequency  of 
breathing  as  well  as  retention  of  a  greater  amount  of 
breath,  and  both  of  these  bring  longer  pauses  and  greater 
vigor  of  touch. 

Medium  or  intermittent  stress,  taught  by  elocutionists, 
expresses  weakness,  and  denotes  absence  of  intensity. 
The  touch  must  be  decided  or  radical  to  express  strength 
or  intensity. 

Intensity  also  causes  greater  variation  of  pitch,  and 
longer,  more  decided,  and  straighter  inflexions.  It 
implies  greater  earnestness  and  more  vigorous  think- 
ing; hence,  it  emphasizes  all  the  elements  of  conver- 
sational form  and  increases  the  range,  in  fact,  all  the 
expressive  modulations  of  the  voice. 

Loudness  often  implies  the  opposite  of  intensity. 
We  are  loud  in  expression  when  demonstrative.  Loud- 
ness  indicates  pretense  to  be  earnest.  Genuine  ear- 
nestness is  always  revealed  by  increase  of  intensity. 
Loudness  may  at  times  naturally  reveal  momentary 
abandon,  domination  of  emotion;  but  when  continued  this 
can  only  suggest  waste  of  passion.  It  must  be  associated 
with  great  changes  of  pitch  and  other  modulations; 
otherwise  it  denotes  absence  of  genuine  force. 

If  you  make  tenderness  and  delicacy  intense,  will 
you  not  destroy  their  character?  On  the  contrary,  it  is 
one  of  the  chief  characteristics  of  a  true  vocal  artist 
to  be  able  to  intensify  tenderness.  One  of  the  Essays 


HEIGHT  OF   THE   SOUND    WAVES  3°3 

of  Charles  Lamb  has  been  regarded  as  a  condemnation 
of  all  vocal  expression.  He  speaks  of  recitation  as  per- 
verting a  fine  passage,  and  what  he  says  is  strictly  true 
as  regards  ordinary  recitation,  but  it  should  not  be  so. 
One  who  can  render  the  most  subtle  and  tender  of  poems 
without  declamation,  but  by  intensifying  its  own  char- 
acter, will  make  us  realize  its  beauty.  Vocal  art  must  not 
be  judged  in  ignorance  of  its  possibilities  or  any  art  by 
perverted  examples.  The  most  delicate  emotion  can 
be  made  intense,  and  just  as  the  most  spiritual  song  can 
be  sung  with  truthful  expression  of  its  delicacy,  can  a 
beautiful  poem  be  interpreted  by  a  true  art  of  speech. 
The  fundamental  character  of  an  emotion  can  be  in- 
tensified without  changing  its  spirit. 

A  reader  must  be  able  to  express  all  emotions  and  to 
intensify  the  conditions  of  the  most  imaginative  passage. 
To  change  the  character  of  an  emotion  is  not  to  intensify 
it;  to  degrade  a  feeling  is  not  to  express  it. 

Emphasize  imaginative  and  all  mental  actions  and 
realizations,  and  note  that  genuineness  is  the  necessary, 
the  only  road  to  power. 

Whatever  cannot  be  made  intense  is  not  a  genuine 
emotion.  Indifference,  for  example,  cannot  be  directly 
intensified,  but  here  we  come  upon  a  paradox,  —  we 
cannot  render  indifference  indifferently.  Even  this 
must  be  intensified  to  make  it  understood  or  impressive. 
The  reader  may  suggest  an  indifferent  character,  but 
indicate  that  the  quality  is  only  reflected  from  the  mirror 
of  his  own  earnestness.  He  can  hardly  express  it  directly 
and  cause  anything  but  lack  of  attention.  To  arouse 
interest  he  can  only  express  the  impression  indifference 
makes  upon  him. 

Art  has  been  called  by  Veron  "  the  intervention  of 
personality."  The  artist  must  express  his  own  impres- 
sions. "  No  man,"  says  Schlegel,  "  can  give  anything 
to  his  fellowman  but  himself."  In  expressing  any  feeling, 


304  MIND   AND   VOICE 

the  vocal  artist  gives  the  measure  of  his  own  realization. 
In  the  development  of  support  and  intensity,  all  previous 
steps  should  be  reviewed,  such  as  the  establishment 
and  co-ordination  of  the  fundamental  conditions,  such 
as  the  "  starts,"  laughter  and  inflexional  initiation.  The 
special  point  in  advance  to  be  now  noticed  and  empha- 
sized is  to  increase  still  more  the  reserve  of  breath  and 
other  voice  conditions,  but  to  lessen  rather  than  to 
increase  the  volume. 

Render  lines  full  of  passion,  and  note  that  the  more 
intense  the  feeling  the  more  are  the  tone 


intensity  and    conditions,  especially  the  reserve  of  breath, 

Feeling. 

agility  and  range  of  the  voice  increased.  In 
every  species  of  passion  accentuate  the  conditions  and 
lessen  the  volume. 

Now  men  of  death,  work  forth  your  will, 

For  I  can  suffer,  and  be  still  ; 
And  come  he  slow,  or  come  he  fast, 

It  is  but  Death  who  comes  at  last. 
"Marmion"  Scott. 

Oh,  lift  me  as  a  wave,  a  leaf,  a  cloud  ! 

I  fall  upon  the  thorns  of  life!  I  bleed! 
A  heavy  weight  of  hours  has  chained  and  bowed 

One  too  like  thee:  tameless,  and  swift,  and  proud. 
"  Ode  to  the  West  Wind  '  '  Shelley  . 

Render  a  variety  of  dignified  speeches  from  exalted 
characters,  and  notice  that  increasing  the  support  inten- 
sifies, dignifies  and  ennobles,  while  lessening  the  breath 
and  giving  either  medium  stresses  or  loudness  will 
weaken  the  effect. 

.  .  .  But,  sirrah,  from  henceforth 

Let  me  not  hear  you  speak  of  Mortimer: 

Send  me  your  prisoners  with  the  speediest  means, 

Or  you  shall  hear  in  such  a  kind  from  me 

As  will  displease  you.  —  My  Lord  Northumberland, 

We  license  your  departure  with  your  son.  — 

Send  us  your  prisoners,  or  you  '11  hear  of  it. 
From  '  '  Henry  IV  "  Shakespeare. 


HEIGHT   OF  THE   SOUND   WAVES  305 

Follow  Light,  and  do  the  Right  — 
For  man  can  half  control  his  doom; 

Till  you  find  the  deathless  angel 

Seated  in  the  vacant  tomb. 
From ' '  Locksley  Hall "  Tennyson. 

Render  subordinate  clauses  with  the  same  intensity 
of  touch  as  those  which  are  emphatic.  Express  also 
degrees  of  emphasis  by  varying  the  length  of  inflexions 
and  changes  of  pitch.  Intensity  is  a  matter  of  rhythm; 
emphasis,  of  melody  and  form.  Intensity  must  apply  to 
every  phrase,  and  each  successive  idea  must  receive  a 
vigorous  touch. 

I  do  not  count  the  hours  I  spend  in  wandering  by  the  sea; 
The  forest  is  my  loyal  friend,  like  God  it  useth  me. 
In  plains  that  room  for  shadows  make  of  skirting  hills  to  lie, 
Bound  in  by  streams  which  give  and  take  their  colors  from  the  sky. 
Aloft,  in  secret  veins  of  air,  blows  the  sweet  breath  of  song, 
O,  lew  to  scale  those  uplands  dare,  though  they  to  all  belong! 
From  "  Waldeinsamieit "  Emerson. 

Lewes,  in  his  book  on  "  Action,"  says  "  There  is  no 
actor  in  our  time  who  has  any  vocal  expression  except 
Salvini,  and  he  fails  in  pathos."  My  observation  of  the 
elder  Salvini  agrees  with  this  statement  of  the  great 
critic.  Salvini's  tremendous  command  over  passion, 
his  power  to  suggest  anger,  indignation,  and  remorse 
was  marvelous,  but  in  the  expression  of  pathos  he  gave 
up  too  much  to  the  first  depressive  tendency,  there  was 
a  slight  suggestion  of  a  whine.  Of  all  actors,  he  had  the 
greatest  power  of  modulating  his  voice  under  the  domin- 
ion of  emotion,  and  his  failure  in  pathos  only  shows 
the  great  difficulty  in  the  expression  of  this  emotion. 
Sorrow  is,  of  all  passions,  the  one  in  which  men  are 
tempted  to  be  passive  rather  than  active,  to  give  way  to 
the  lessening  of  breath,  or  lack  of  retention;  but 
if  we  remember  that  it  is  the  control  over  it  that 
makes  the  difference  between  the  strong  man  and  a 


306  MIND   AND    VOICE 

weak  one,  the  key  to  this  greatest  difficulty  may  be 
obtained. 

Render  some  lines  of  sorrow,  breathing  often,  and 
accentuating  simultaneous  activity  through  the  middle 
of  the  body  and  the  relaxation  of  the  throat.  Express 
the  struggle  to  control  the  sorrow  rather  than  its  tendency 
to  depress,  contract,  and  lessen  tone  conditions. 

Low,  like  another's,  lies  the  laurelled  head; 
The  life  that  seemed  a  perfect  song  is  o'er; 
Carry  the  last  great  bard  to  his  last  bed. 
Land  that  he  loved,  thy  noblest  voice  is  mute. 
Land  that  he  loved,  that  loved  him !  never  more 
Shadow  of  thine,  smooth  lawn  or  wild  seashore, 
Gardens  of  odorous  bloom  or  tremulous  fruit, 
Or  woodlawns  old,  like  Druid  couches  spread, 
The  master's  feet  shall  tread, 
Death's  little  rift  hath  rent  the  faultless  lute  - 
The  singer  of  undying  songs  is  dead. 

The  seasons  change,  the  winds  they  shift  and  veer; 

The  grass  of  yesteryear 

Is  dead;  the  birds  depart  ;  the  groves  decay; 

Empires  dissolve  and  people  disappear; 

Song  passes  not  away. 

Captains  and  conquerors  leave  a  little  dust 

And  kings  a  dubious  legend  of  their  reign; 

The  swords  of  Caesars,  they  are  less  than  rust; 

The  poet  doth  remain. 

Dead  is  Augustus,  Maro  is  alive ; 
And  thou,  the  Mantuan  of  our  age  and  clime, 
Like  Virgil  shall  thy  race  and  tongue  survive, 
Bequeathing  no  less  honeyed  words  to  time, 
Embalmed  in  amber  of  eternal  rhyme, 
And  rich  with  sweets  from  every  muse's  hive. 
While  to  the  measure  of  thy  cosmic  rune, 
For  purer  ears  thou  shalt  thy  lyre  attune, 
And  need  no  more  the  hum  of  idle  praise 
In  that  great  calm  our  tumults  cannot  reach, 
Master  who  crown' st  our  immelodious  days 
With  flower  of  perfect  speech. 
From  "  Lachrymae  Wtasarum  "  on  the  Worth  of  Tennyson.       William  Watson. 


HEIGHT   OF  THE   SOUND   WAVES  307 

Render  lines  from  Whittier's  "Witch's  Daughter," 
expressing  her  agony  at  the  conduct  of  the  neighbors, 
and  her  remembrance  of  the  injustice  to  her  mother,  or 
the  passionate  words  of  Enoch  Arden.  At  the  same 
time,  note  the  effect  on  breathing,  pauses,  changes  of 
pitch,  touch,  and  other  voice  modulations. 

O  God !  have  mercy  on  thy  child, 

Whose  faith  in  thee  grows  weak  and  small, 
And  take  me  ere  I  lose  it  all ! 
"  Mabel  Martin  "  Whittier. 

O  God  Almighty,  blessed  Saviour,  Thou 
That  didst  uphold  me  on  my  lonely  isle, 
Uphold  me,  Father,  in  my  loneliness 
A  little  longer!  aid  me,  give  me  strength 
Not  to  tell  her,  never  to  let  her  know. 
' '  Enoch  Arden ' '  Tennyson. 


II.   VOLUME. 

Nothwithstanding  the  truth  and  importance  of  all  that 
has  been  said  regarding  intensity,  the  voice  must  also 
increase  in  volume.  While  this  is  less  expressive,  it 
has  a  meaning,  and  when  truly  understood  and  devel- 
oped in  an  easy  and  normal  way  and  at  the  proper  time, 
is  of  great  importance. 

Volume  does  not  necessarily  mean  loudness.  It  is 
a  certain  strength  or  fullness  in  the  amplitude  of  the 
vibrations.  A  voice  may  be  made  loud  by  forcing  it, 
but  volume  must  be  the  result  of  the  elements  already 
discussed.  There  must  especially  be  a  great  amount  of 
breath,  or  a  true  support  of  tone.  The  tone  passage 
must  become  open  and  free.  The  vocal  bands  must 
be  so  responsive  that  the  height  of  the  sound  waves  may 
be  given  with  perfect  ease  and  repose  and  without  a 
strain.  In  such  a  case  the  speaker  or  singer  can  modu- 
late the  volume  for  the  expression  of  a  passion,  while  in 


MIND    AND   VOICE 

the  case  of  forced  loudness,  no  such  expressive  modu- 
lation is  possible. 

Volume  also  indicates  a  certain  magnetic  realization 
of  the  depth  and  strength  of  passion.  It  implies  certain 
largeness  in  the  realization  of  a  situation.  Many  singers 
and  speakers  seem  to  give  the  impression  that  they  fill 
only  a  corner  of  a  hall. 

I  can  remember  the  first  time  I  heard  the  great  singer 
Madame  Titiens.  She  sang  in  "The  Stabat  Mater," 
and  the  first  word  she  sang  was  "  inflammatus."  The 
flood  of  sound  which  came  forth  without  the  least  effort 
filled  the  immense  hall  and  seemed  to  overflow  it.  It 
was  so  full  of  life  and  vibration,  so  easy,  and  passionate, 
so  intense  and  yet  without  the  least  strain.  The  whole 
audience  was  thrilled  into  life. 

The  method  of  developing  volume  must  be  by  a  gradual 
and  careful  mastery  of  all  the  steps  so  far  unfolded.  It 
especially  depends  upon  the  sympathetic  vibration  of  the 
chest,  which  is  manifested  in  tone  in  proportion  to  the 
amount  of  breath  that  can  be  easily,  sympathetically,  and 
harmoniously  retained  in  the  lungs. 

Volume,  as  a  rule,  is  better  secured  indirectly  as  a 
result  of  growth  of  normal  conditions.  When  there  is  a 
primary  effort  to  increase  volume,  there  is  apt  to  be  a 
strain  and  interference  with  normal  development.  The 
first  work  for  its  development  must  be  improvement 
of  the  general  health,  elastic  retention  of  breath,  and  a 
certain  easy  expansion  of  the  whole  body. 

The  development  of  the  imagination  and  feeling  also 
has  much  to  do  with  volume  for  these  attune  the  whole 
body  as  the  vibratory  agent. 

It  must  not  be  forgotten  that  volume  does  not  consist 
alone  in  the  increase  of  the  amplitude  of  the  primary 
vibrations.  For  example,  a  voice  under  a  sounding 
board  will  have  its  volume  greatly  magnified  by  sym- 
pathetic vibrations.  Observe  the  weak  vibrations  of  a 


HEIGHT   OF   THE   SOUND   WAVES  309 

violin  string  when  stretched  without  the  body  of  the 
instrument,  and  then  the  richness  of  the  vibrations 
when  the  string  is  acting  in  its  proper  place. 

Similarly,  volume  of  the  voice  is  chiefly  a  result  of 
what  will  be  explained  later  as  sympathetic  vibrations, 
especially  the  vibrations  of  the  chest. 

The  voice  may  be  made  stronger  by  rendering  hearty 
or  animated  passages  full  of  patriotism  or  _ 

l/xcrcisc  89 • 

some   normal   excitement.      Care   must   be  voiumeand 

Intensity. 

taken  not  to  force  the  volume  in  any  way, 
but  to  give  the  demonstrativeness  its  natural  and  simple 
manifestation.  Such  an  exercise  brings  greater  freedom 
and  spontaneity  to  the  voice,  the  normal  increase  in 
volume  being  often  a  help  in  the  natural  development 
or  increase  in  vocal  strength. 

BARCLAY  OF  URY, 

Up  the  streets  of  Aberdeen,  by  the  kirk  and  college  green,  rode 
the  Laird  of  Ury;  close  behind  him,  close  beside,  foul  of  mouth  and 
evil-eyed,  pressed  the  mob  in  fury.  Flouted  him  the  drunken  churl, 
jeered  at  him  the  serving-girl,  prompt  to  please  her  master;  and 
the  begging  carlin,  late  fed  and  clothed  at  Ury's  gate,  cursed  him 
as  he  passed  her.  Yet,  with  calm  and  stately  mien,  up  the  streets 
of  Aberdeen  came  he  slowly  riding:  and,  to  all  he  saw  and  heard, 
answering  not  with  bitter  word,  turning  not  for  chiding.  Came  a 
troop  with  broadswords  swinging,  bits  and  bridles  sharply  ringing, 
loose  and  free  and  froward;  quoth  the  foremost,  "  ride  him  down! 
push  him!  prick  him!  through  the  town  drive  the  Quaker  coward!  " 

But  from  out  the  thickening  crowd  cried  a  sudden  voice  and  loud: 
"  Barclay!  Ho!  a  Barclay!  "  And  the  old  man  at  his  side  saw  a 
comrade,  battle  tried,  scarred  and  sun-burned  darkly;  who  with 
ready  weapon  bare,  fronting  to  the  troopers  there,  cried  aloud: 
"  God  save  us,  call  ye  coward  him  who  stood  ankle-deep  in  Lutzen's 
blood,  with  the  brave  Gustavus?  " 

"  Nay,  I  do  not  need  thy  sword,  comrade  mine,"  said  Ury's  lord; 
"  put  it  up,  I  pray  thee :  passive  to  His  holy  will,  trust  I  in  my  Master 
still,  even  though  He  slay  me.  Pledges  of  thy  love  and  faith, 
proved  on  many  a  field  of  death,  not  by  me  are  needed." 

Marvelled  much  that  henchman  bold,  that  his  laird,  so  stout  of 
old,  now  so  meekly  pleaded.  "  Woe  's  the  day!  "  he  sadly  said, 


310  MIND   AND   VOICE 

with  a  slowly-shaking  head,  and  a  look  of  pity;  "  Ury's  honest  lord 
reviled,  mock  of  knave  and  sport  of  child,  in  his  own  good  city! 
speak  the  word,  and,  master  mine,  as  we  charged  on  Tilly's  line, 
and  his  Walloon  lancers,  smiting  through  their  midst  we  '11  teach 
civil  look  and  decent  speech  to  these  boyish  prancers!  " 

"  Marvel  not,  mine  ancient  friend,  like  beginning,  like  the  end:  " 
quoth  the  Laird  of  Ury.  "  Is  the  sinful  servant  more  than  his 
gracious  Lord  who  bore  bonds  and  stripes  in  Jewry?  Give  me  joy 
that  in  His  name  I  can  bear,  with  patient  frame,  all  these  vain  ones 
offer;  while  for  them  He  suffereth  long,  shall  I  answer  wrong  with 
wrong,  scoffing  with  the  scoffer?  Happier  I,  with  loss  of  all,  hunted, 
outlawed,  held  in  thrall,  with  few  friends  to  greet  me,  than  when 
reeve  and  squire  were  seen,  riding  out  from  Aberdeen,  with  bared 
heads  to  meet  me ;  when  each  good  wife,  o'er  and  o'er,  blessed  me 
as  I  passed  her  door;  and  the  snooded  daughter,  through  her  case- 
ment glancing  down,  smiled  on  him  who  bore  renown  from  red 
fields  of  slaughter. 

"  Hard  to  feel  the  stranger's  scoff,  hard  the  old  friend's  falling 
off,  hard  to  learn  forgiving:  but  the  Lord  His  own  rewards,  and  His 
love  with  theirs  accords,  warm  and  fresh  and  living.  Through  this 
dark  and  stormy  night  faith  beholds  a  feeble  light  up  the  blackness 
streaking;  knowing  God's  own  time  is  best,  in  a  patient  hope  I  rest 
for  the  f  ull^day-breaking !  "  So  the  Laird  of  Ury  said,  turning  slow 
his  horse's  head  toward  the  Tolbooth  prison,  where,  through  iron 
grates,  he  heard  poor  disciples  of  the  Word  preach  of  Christ  arisen! 

Not  in  vain,  Confessor  old,  unto  us  the  tale  is  told  of  thy  day  of 
trial ;  every  age  on  him  who  stays  from  its  broad  and  beaten  ways, 
pours  its  sevenfold  vial.  Happy  he  whose  inward  ear  angel  com- 
fortings  can  hear,  o'er  the  rabble's  laughter;  and,  while  Hatred's 
fagots  burn,  glimpses  through  the  smoke  discern  of  the  good  here- 
after; knowing  this,  that  never  yet  share  of  truth  was  vainly  set  in 
the  world's  wide  fallow;  after  hands  shall  sow  the  seed,  after  hands 
from  hill  and  mead  reap  the  harvests  yellow.  Thus,  with  some- 
what of  the  Seer,  must  the  moral  pioneer  from  the  Future  borrow: 
clothe  the  waste  with  dreams  of  grain,  and,  on  midnight's  sky  of 
rain,  paint  the  golden  morrow! 

J.  G.  WMttier. 

HI.   WEAKNESS   OF    TONE. 

The  student  must  remember  that  right  qualities  must 
be  established  before  he  can  secure  strength.  Purity 
and  other  normal  conditions  must  first  be  established 
before  there  can  be  a  direct  endeavor  to  make  the  voice 


HEIGHT   OF   THE   SOUND   WAVES  311 

strong.  Only  loss  of  power  as  well  as  of  normal  qualities 
can  result  from  any  mechanical  forcing  or  labored  action 
in  the  production  of  tone.  Especially  will  this  prove  true 
where  any  constrictions  are  found,  because  the  intro- 
duction of  greater  effort  tends  generally  to  increase 
these  abnormal  actions. 

Weakness  is  directly  associated  with  lack  of  support 
or  want  of  control  over  the  breath.  This  is  closely  con- 
nected with  conditions  of  vitality.  "  Voice,"  said  Dr. 
Guilmette,  "  like  the  organs  that  produce  it,  is  vital. 
Accordingly,  the  more  vitality  we  have,  other  things 
being  equal,  the  more  voice.  Voice  is  merely  breath, 
hence  the  more  breath  we  have  the  more  voice." 

The  first  step  in  correcting  any  weakness  of  voice  is  to 
improve  the  general  health  and  to  centre  the  attention 
upon  deeper,  freer,  and  more  rhythmic  breathing.  There 
is  thus  secured  more  harmonious  expansion  of  the 
chest,  and  ability  to  retain  a  large  amount  of  breath. 

The  development  of  support  and  intensity  is  the  best 
remedy  for  nearly  all  cases  of  weak  voices. 

Special  tendency  to  weakness  demands  more  care  in 
the  practice  of  the  successive  exercises.  Patience  and 
perseverence  will  often  be  needed  for  months  until  all 
the  respiratory  muscles  have  been  strengthened  and  all 
fundamental  conditions  of  tone  established. 

Something  more  specific  needs  to  be  given  in  extreme 
cases.  There  is  always  in  weakness  a  lack  of  expansion 
and  too  much  contraction  in  the  producing  of  tone.  The 
conditions  of  the  body,  in  such  cases  must  accordingly 
receive  attention.  Even  physical  exercises,  however, 
must  not  be  labored  or  constricted  but  easy  and  pro- 
gressive. There  must  also  be  cultivation  of  joy  and 
courage  and  easy  diffusion  of  emotion  through  the  body. 

The  student  must  make  tone  all  over.  The  conditions, 
however,  must  be  made  to  transcend  the  action.  Weak 
voices  are  not  the  result  of  a  lack  of  labor,  but  of  a  lack 


312  MIND   AND   VOICE 

of  centrality  of  effort.  That  is  to  say,  the  student  needs 
a  larger  amount  of  breath  as  the  vibratory  body;  the 
tone  is  pleasant,  musical,  and  strong  in  any  bell  when 
the  bell  is  larger  than  the  clapper.  The  same  is  true 
of  the  voice.  When  the  energy  is  used  to  force  out  breath 
to  make  tone,  though  a  loud  tone  may  be  made,  it  will 
lack  genuine  support  and  strength.  The  energy  must  be 
directed  to  the  expanding  of  the  chest  and  the  amount 
of  breath  retained  in  the  lungs.  This  point  is  important, 
since  loud  exercises  are  commonly  given  to  strengthen 
the  voice.  Such  loudness  is  simply  due,  as  a  rule,  to  the 
increase  of  the  force  of  the  stroke  of  the  drum  stick  or 
the  clapper  of  the  bell,  and  may  increase  weakness 
rather  than  develop  strength. 

Exercises  for  development  of  strength  of  voice  must 
be  simple  and  gentle  at  first;  there  must  be,  however, 
a  strong  accentuation  of  all  the  conditions  for  tone.  The 
best  way  to  strengthen  the  voice  is  patiently  to  follow 
the  regular  order  of  steps  previously  laid  down. 

XXm.    FLEXIBILITY  OF  VOICE 

A  study  of  voice  modulations  in  natural  conversation 
reveals  a  continual  variation  of  degrees  of  force.  We 
find  this  in  the  accent  of  words.  Certain  syllables  are 
called  strong,  others  weak.  We  have  also  various  de- 
grees of  loudness  and  volume.  In  the  pronunciation  of 
every  phrase  and  even  every  word  we  meet  with  the 
phenomena  of  rhythm,  of  alternation,  of  strong  and 
weak  degrees  of  force. 

An  absence  of  this  flexible  variation  of  force  is  un- 
pleasant. It  causes  the  voice  to  be  wearying,  not  only 
to  the  hearer  but  to  the  speaker  himself.  It  is  im- 
portant, accordingly,  to  give  some  attention  to  the  in- 
crease in  this  easy  variation  of  degrees  of  force.  All 
laboredness  must  be  removed. 


HEIGHT   OF  THE  SOUND   WAVES  313 

To  develop  flexibility  in  controlling  force  means  to 
secure  also  better  control  over  the  breathing  and  vocal 
organs. 

How  does  flexibility  differ  from  agility?  Agility,  as 
used  in  this  book,  refers  to  facility  in  all  modes  of  chang- 
ing pitch.  Flexibility  refers  to  facility  in  changing  de- 
grees of  force.  Agility  refers  to  facility  in  changing 
length  of  the  sound  waves;  flexibility  in  the  change 
of  their  height.  It  applies  also  to  the  organs  them- 
selves. 

Flexibility  is  usually  a  broader  term.  Agility,  espe- 
cially as  here  used,  is  peculiar  to  the  range  of  the  voice. 
They  necessarily  imply  each  other.  Work  upon  one  will 
help  the  other,  but  both  should  receive  attention. 

I.  NATURE  AND  CAUSES  OF  FLEXIBILITY. 

If  we  study  various  animals,  we  find  that  the  degree 
of  mental  power  is  directly  in  proportion  to  the  flexibility 
of  what  are  known  as  the  tactual  organs.  The  elephant 
has  a  pliable  trunk.  The  parrot  can  move  his  upper  man- 
dible. The  monkey  has  almost  a  hand. 

A  man  with  an  inflexible  mind  lacks  also  emotion  and 
responsiveness  of  voice  and  body.  He  cannot  alter  his 
point  of  view  or  quickly  change  his  attention.  Thus, 
his  lack  of  flexibility  has  a  mental  cause.  He  must  work 
accordingly  for  flexibility  of  all  his  organs,  but  he  must 
develop  also  versatility  of  mind. 

In  fact,  flexibility  can  be  secured  only  through  the 
mind.  One  who  has  a  mind  that  moves  slowly  and 
heavily,  without  quick  discriminations  or  variations  of 
point  of  view,  will  be  apt  to  speak  monotonously.  Habits 
of  thinking  in  speaking  render  the  voice  flexible  or 
otherwise. 

On  the  other  hand,  work  for  flexibility  of  the  parts 
concerned  in  tone  production  has  a  great  effect  over  the 
motor  centres  of  the  brain. 


314  MIND    AND    VOICE 

The  question  as  to  whether  the  vocal  organs  have 
more  effect  upon  thinking,  or  thinking  upon  the  organs, 
is  of  little  if  any  practical  consequence.  Work  for  all 
kinds  of  flexibility  requires  practice  both  in  the  versatile 
actions  of  the  mind  and  also  exercise  in  the  variation  of 
the  actions  of  the  voice.  In  working  for  flexibility,  ac- 
cordingly, the  exercises  should  not  be  mechanical,  but 
the  mental  act  and  the  vocal  act  should,  as  far  as  pos- 
sible, be  associated. 

All  technical  exercises,  even  one  as  mechanical  as 
the  practice  of  a  scale,  should  be  associated  with  mental 
stimulation.  It  is  a  well-known  fact  that  genuine  think- 
ing and  feeling  cause  better  co-ordination  of  the  nerve 
centres  than  does  mechanical  action.  In  all  practice, 
even  the  most  technical  and  seemingly  the  most  mechani- 
cal, an  imaginary  situation  should  be  held  in  the  mind. 
This  situation  should  be  realized  in  feeling.  The  student 
should  exercise  his  dramatic  instinct,  or  the  result  of 
his  training  will  be  slow. 

This,  however,  is  not  enough.  Exercise  in  direct  in- 
terpretation of  discrimination  and  other  mental  actions 
must  be  practiced.  Short  extracts  calling  for  variety  of 
inflexions  and  changes  of  pitch  of  different  degrees  of 
force  and  of  rhythm  and  movement  should  immediately 
follow  the  practice  of  any  technical  exercise,  in  order  to 
apply  these  and  to  unite  mental  and  emotional  flexibility 
and  free  responsiveness  to  the  voice. 


II.   ORGANIC   FACILITY. 

Another  phase  of  flexibility  has  more  or  less  direct 
relationship  to  the  will.  Flexibility  refers  to  the  quick- 
ness with  which  conditions  respond  and  are  established, 
such  as  degrees  of  support.  Conditions  must  all  be 
changed  easily  and  quickly;  each  part  must  discharge 
its  function  with  great  dexterity.  Flexibility  implies  an 


HEIGHT   OF   THE   SOUND   WAVES  315 

immediate  responsiveness  of  all  the  organs  of  the  voice 
to  thinking,  feeling,  and  willing. 

Flexibility  has  a  wider  application  than  merely  the 
use  of  degrees  of  force.  It  applies  to  the  action  of  every 
agent.  Any  agent  lacks  flexibility,  when  unable  to  dis- 
charge quickly  any  action  and  recoil  from  it.  Some- 
times this  hindrance  is  due  to  the  interference  of 
neighboring  agents.  The  part  is  not  distinctly  differen- 
tiated. Sometimes  the  inflexibility  is  due  simply  to 
lack  of  use. 

The  necessity  of  flexibility  may  be  illustrated  by  the 
action  of  the  tongue.  Articulation  demands  that  every 
part  of  the  tongue  should  act  easily  without  interfering 
with  any  neighboring  part.  The  tip  of  the  tongue  must 
rise  while  the  back  of  it  remains  quiescent.  The  latter 
must  rise  without  drawing  the  tip  away  from  the  lower 
teeth  and  without  constriction  at  the  centre.  The  whole 
centre  must  act  without  any  stiffness  or  rigidity  in  the 
muscles  at  the  base. 

Observe  that  the  diaphragm  must  draw  in  breath 
quickly,  retain  it  easily,  and  release  its  activity  instantly. 
A  certain  flexibility  of  the  diaphragm  is  necessary  as  a 
part  of  the  work  for  securing  the  flexible  management  of 
the  motor  power  or  even  application  of  degrees  of  force. 

Note  also  the  direct  response  of  the  rhythm  of  breath- 
ing to  that  of  thinking.  The  student  should  give  passages 
full  of  excitement,  and  note  that  the  rhythm  of  breathing 
must  be  first  affected  by  the  animation.  Passages  of 
great  intensity  should  also  be  practiced  to  increase  the 
amount  of  breath  received.  Extracts  uniting  both  in- 
tensity and  excitement,  in  short,  those  of  every  possible 
variety  should  be  practiced,  while  the  student  should  see 
that  his  breathing  is  responsive  to  every  variation  in 
degrees  of  excitement,  intensity  or  other  changes. 

Sometimes  the  vocal  bands  are  used  in  a  certain  rigid 
way  and  lack  power  to  make  different  degrees  of  loudness 


3l6  MIND   AND   VOICE 

and  softness  in  tone,  though  this  is  usually  primarily 
associated  with  a  misuse  of  the  respiratory  mechanism. 

In  the  study  of  the  action  of  any  agent  or  set  of  agents, 
or  the  performance  of  a  distinct  function,  we  can  note 
certain  characterictics  which  should  belong  to  the  per- 
formance. All  such  actions  should  be  normal  and  natural. 
However  extremely  accentuated  an  action  may  be,  it 
is  simply  the  increase  of  one  or  more  of  the  elemental 
actions  of  the  agent. 

The  action  must  also  be  simple.  No  great  complica- 
tions or  combinations  should  be  permitted.  It  is  equally 
important  that  the  action  of  every  agent  should  be  easy. 
This  is  almost  synonymous  with  facility  and  flexibility. 
Every  agent  ought  to  be  trained  to  discharge  its  functions 
with  the  greatest  possible  ease.  There  must  be  no  ap- 
parent limitation;  but  all  as  easy  as  nature  herself,  as 
natural  as  the  leaf  swaying  in  the  breeze,  the  rippling 
of  the  brook,  the  bending  of  the  reed,  or  the  song  of 
the  bird.  No  action  can  be  labored,  constricted,  or  fet- 
tered and  not  hinder  expression. 

The  performance  of  a  function  must  also  be  definite. 
This  always  results  from  right  accentuation  of  the  ele- 
mental actions  of  an  agent  or  part.  The  right  part 
should  be  used,  the  right  agent  or  force  applied.  There 
ought  to  be  no  waste.  Economy  implies  both  ease  and 
precision.  Accentuation  does  not  necessarily  imply 
exaggeration.  Force  must  be  applied  to  the  right  part 
at  the  right  moment  in  the  right  way.  Every  action  should 
normally  respond  instantaneously  to  its  mental,  emo- 
tional, or  volitional  cause. 

Again,  it  is  important  to  note  that  flexibility  does  not 
belong  merely  to  the  volitional  parts.  The  mental  and 
emotional  actions  must  be  flexible.  Even  the  sub- 
conscious and  involuntary  elements  of  delivery  must 
be  responsive.  This  is  accomplished  by  developing  the 
elemental  actions,  by  establishing  normal  and  health- 


HEIGHT   OF   THE   SOUND   WAVES  317 

ful  conditions.  Involuntary  actions  are  co-ordinated 
with  a  few  primary  actions.  In  the  same  way,  sub-con- 
scious elements  are  co-ordinated  with  conscious  ones. 

III.    RHYTHM. 

Force  always  acts  rhythmically  in  nature.  There 
seems  to  be  an  alternation  between  that  which  is  strong 
and  that  which  is  weak.  The  heart  beats  in  rhythm; 
man  breathes  rhythmically;  all  thinking  is  rhythmic. 
Hence,  all  expression  must  be  also  rhythmic.  There 
must  be  alternation  between  receiving  an  impression 
and  expressing  it,  between  taking  an  idea  and  giving  it. 
The  mind  concentrates  its  attention  upon  one  idea, 
then  leaps  to  another,  making  a  continual  rhythmic 
pulsation. 

The  whole  command  of  force  depends  upon  the  mastery 
of  this  sense  of  rhythm.  There  is  alternation  between 
silence  and  speech  in  the  pause  and  the  touch.  Without 
such  alternation,  or  the  mastery  of  a  few  steps  which 
seem  to  many  students  ridiculously  simple,  true  flexi- 
bility and  command  of  force  would  be  lacking. 

Mere  action  and  reaction,  or  alternation  of  force,  is 
not  necessarily  rhythmic.  Rhythm  implies  a  certain 
continuity  of  conditions.  One  thing  and  then  another 
will  not  make  rhythm,  but  when  both  are  due  to  sym- 
pathetic and  continuous  application  of  a  force  or  forces 
acting  in  unity,  and  the  alternation  is  due  to  the  freedom 
of  the  outgoing  energy,  rhythm  will  be  the  result.  When 
successive  receptions  of  impressions  cause  expression 
without  constriction,  labor,  or  too  much  deliberative  ac- 
tion, and  awaken  sympathetic  spontaneous  energies, 
then  rhythm  is  the  result.  When  breathing  results  from 
a  sequence  of  ideas  in  speaking,  —  that  is,  impression 
and  expression  come  into  natural  alternation,  one  caus- 
ing the  other,  rhythm  results. 

This  principle  of  rhythm  will  enable  us  to  realize  the 


MIND   AND   VOICE 

true  nature  of  flexibility,  and  help  to  establish  a  sym- 
pathetic continuity  between  preparation  and  speech, 
between  establishment  of  conditions  and  resultant  tone. 
Whenever  there  is  a  separation  of  the  two,  due  to  hesi- 
tation or  any  other  cause,  there  will  be  a  lack  of  rhythm; 
and  actions  may  follow,  but  they  are  chaotic  rather  than 
flexible. 

One  of  the  first  phases  of  flexibility  should  be  the 
reception  of  an  impression  in  silence  and  the  giving  of 
the  words  in  a  definite  touch.  When  there  is  silence 
and  a  looking  for  a  word  or  groping  for  an  idea,  the 
rhythm  is  lost.  Rhythm  results  only  when  the  recep- 
tion of  the  impression  naturally  causes  expression,  and 
when  the  concentration  of  the  mind  upon  one  idea  pre- 
cedes the  utterance  of  the  phrase.  All  thinking  is  nor- 
mally rhythmic,  but  it  may  be  rigid,  broken  and  chaotic. 
A  stream  of  water  may  flow  down  rhythmically,  but  if 
full  of  chunks  of  floating  ice  the  rhythm  is  more  or  less 
destroyed.  The  same  is  true  of  the  flow  of  ideas,  of 
the  sequence  of  actions  in  the  establishment  of  vocal 
conditions,  and  in  the  succession  of  voice  modulations 
or  actions  of  the  body. 

The  importance  of  rhythm  can  hardly  be  too  strongly 
emphasized.  The  heart  pulsating  rhythmically  accom- 
plishes an  inconceivable  amount  of  labor  during  a 
lifetime.  The  same  is  true  of  the  diaphragm  in  the  per- 
formance of  the  functions  of  breathing.  In  the  latter 
case  there  is  a  far  greater  complexity,  because  the  dia- 
phragm must  not  only  discharge  its  vital  function  as  the 
heart  itself,  but  must  be  brought  under  the  control  of  the 
will  and  made  to  answer  all  emotions  in  expression. 
When  the  rhythm  of  speaking  is  easy  and  natural,  it  co- 
ordinates with  the  rhythm  of  breathing  in  life ;  but  when- 
ever there  is  confusion,  when  one  interferes  with  the 
other,  sore  throat  and  all  sorts  of  injuries  to  health 
result.  A  study  of  rhythm  enables  us  to  give  exercises 


HEIGHT    OF   THE   SOUND   WAVES  319 

of  the  preparatory  actions,  as  has  been  explained,  in  such 
a  way  that  the  release  allows  a  sympathetic  union  be- 
tween the  rhythm  of  voice  and  life  breathing. 

IV.   METRE. 

We  can  distinguish  between  natural  and  formal 
rhythm.  Natural  rhythm  is  found  in  breathing  as  in 
sleep,  the  beating  of  the  heart,  the  peristaltic  action  of 
the  stomach,  and  all  vital  actions;  also  in  the  normal 
succession  of  silence  and  speech,  the  establishment 
of  conditions  and  active  production  of  tone. 

Side  by  side  with  such  natural  modes  of  rhythm,  we 
have  mechanical  expressions  of  rhythm,  such  as  metre. 
Metre,  however,  has  a  natural  basis,  only  it  can  be 
more  definitely  marked  and  is  more  objective  than  the 
other  phases  of  rhythm  mentioned.  It  can  be  measured 
and  timed  almost  like  song.  It  possesses,  on  the  whole, 
a  definite  objective  quantity,  and  for  this  reason  is  often 
regarded  as  one  phase  of  rhythm. 

One  of  my  ablest  teachers  said  to  me,  "  Have  nothing 
to  do  with  rhythm;  it  is  singsong."  That  is,  to  him  all 
rhythm  was  a  kind  of  continuous  alternation  such  as  we 
find  in  song.  It  is  extremely  important  to  distinguish 
between  informal  and  formal  rhythm,  between  rhythm 
found  everywhere  in  nature  and  the  objective,  not  to  say 
artificial,  rhythm  which  we  find  in  song  and  metre. 

We  cannot  have  too  much  natural  rhythm,  and  it  must 
always  lie  at  the  basis  of  formal  rhythm. 

Metre  is  one  of  the  most  important  phases  of  formal 
rhythm.  It  is  an  endeavor  to  express  the  spirit  of  think- 
ing and  feeling  through  an  arrangement  of  syllables  and 
an  alternation  of  syllables  of  regular,  similar,  and  dissimi- 
lar lengths  or  accent  and  lack  of  accent.  It  always 
implies  a  sequence  of  similar  rhythmic  feet. 

The  chief  use  of  metre  is  to  express  the  rhythm  of 
feeling  rather  than  that  of  thought.  It  is  used  chiefly 


320  MIND   AND   VOICE 

in  poetry,  and  suggests  by  a  regular  succession  of  feet 
the  sequence  of  emotional  pulsations. 

Emotion  is  more  rhythmical  than  thought,  as  has  been 
shown  by  Herbert  Spencer  in  his  "  Essay  on  the  Origin 
of  Music."  So  long  as  thinking  is  rhythmic  it  is  flexible 
and  variable,  while  feeling  is  more  continuously  rhyth- 
mic. Intellect  is  expressed  by  the  rhythm  of  alternation, 
but  emotion  is  more  naturally  revealed  in  musical  or 
formal  rhythm,  —  that  is,  in  the  proportion  of  heavy 
and  light  pulsations  in  continuous  tone.  Metre  is  a 
suggestion  of  this  in  words. 

Metre  is  regarded  by  many  as  an  artificial  or  incidental 
form  chosen  by  the  poet  for  oddity's  sake,  without  having 
any  genuine  element  of  expression.  This  is  a  great  mis- 
take. When  a  poem  is  well  written,  its  rhythm  is  part 
of  the  inevitable  manifestation  of  the  feeling  or  spirit. 
It  should  be  in  no  sense  artificial  or  mechanical. 

Poets  often  come  under  the  domination  of  artificial 
metrical  rules.  When  metre  gets  into  this  state  there 
is  sure  to  come  some  Walt  Whitman  to  rebel  against  it 
and  profess  to  overthrow  it  entirely.  Whitman,  in  his 
best  work,  has  emphasized  the  natural  as  opposed  to 
formal  rhythm.  Still,  even  in  his  work  we  have  fine 
examples  of  formal  rhythm.  His  simplicity,  his  genuine 
realization  of  ideas,  his  honesty  in  giving  expression  to 
his  feeling,  have  brought  forth  some  deeper  realizations 
of  the  nature  of  rhythm,  and  often  in  metre  he  shows 
himself  a  master,  as,  for  example,  in  "  The  Captain." 
Although  in  this  poem  there  are  imperfect  rhymes  show- 
ing something  of  his  rebellion  against  conventional 
rules,  his  rhythmic  movement  and  his  change  in  the 
length  of  lines  at  the  close  of  each  stanza,  are  really 
expressive  of  the  deep  throb  of  feeling  and  highly  artis- 
tic. Let  no  one,  therefore,  delude  himself  into  the  belief 
that  Whitman  or  any  other  poet  has  shown  metre  to  be 
only  foolish,  conventional,  or  accidental  machinery.  A 


HEIGHT    OF   THE   SOUND   WAVES  321 

failure  to  interpret  accurately  the  rhythm  of  a  poem  is  a 
failure  to  interpret  its  spirit.  The  universal  neglect  of 
metre  by  speakers,  and  even  by  readers  and  actors,  is 
indeed  strange.  No  cultivated  person  should  fail  to 
appreciate  the  true  nature  of  metre.  He  who  neglects 
it  misses  one  of  the  charms  of  poetry. 

Metre  should  be  mastered  as  an  aid  in  developing 
rhythmic  agility  of  the  voice,  for  it  is  one  of  the  easiest 
methods  for  the  development  of  a  sense  of  rhythm. 

Metre  is  important,  also,  because  of  its  relation  to 
articulation.  Every  word  is  some  kind  of  a  metric  foot 
or  combination  of  feet,  and  without  a  mastery  of  metre 
there  will  not  follow  that  true  quantity  characteristic  of 
the  best  speech.  Such  a  mastery  aids  in  developing  a 
sense  of  form  to  which  metre  primarily  belongs  but 
cannot  be  indicated  in  print. 

It  is  a  part  of  vocal  expression,  and  can  be  indicated 
only  through  the  living  voice.  One  chief  reason  for  its 
neglect  is  the  existence  of  misconceptions  and  perverted 
views  regarding  the  function  of  the  voice.  Persons  in 
modern  times  can  see  beauties  everywhere  before  they 
perceive  them  in  human  tones. 

If  we  examine  books  on  metre  we  usually  find  an  enu- 
meration of  names  of  feet,  but  hardly  an  indication  that 
these  mean  anything.  Ruskin's  small  book  is  an  ex- 
ception, but  the  majority  of  books  treat  the  subject  as 
if  it  were  merely  a  topic  in  mechanics.  It  must  be 
studied  as  a  part  of  living  expression.  The  peculiar 
names  for  the  feet  amount  to  little.  What  is  needful 
is  to  recognize  the  spirit  and  meaning  of  the  rhyth- 
mic measure,  and  master  its  rendering  by  the  living 
voice. 

What  is  the  meaning  of  metre?  It  must  be  felt  and 
realized.  The  same  foot  in  different  poems  has  a  totally 
different  application. 

Rev.  William  R.  Alger,  who  gave  much  attention  to 


322  MIND   AND   VOICE 

the  study  of  metre,  expressed  its  meaning  in  these  words : 
"  The  essential  kinds  of  rhythm,"  (he  meant  rhythm  as 
the  basis  of  metre),  "  are  three,  the  others  resulting  from 
combinations  of  these.  The  first  is  the  rhythm  of  dimin- 
ishing stress,  the  impulse  beginning  with  full  force  and 
tapering  away.  The  second  is  the  rhythm  of  cumulative 
stress,  the  impulse  waxing  in  vigor  as  it  proceeds.  The 
third  is  the  rhythm  of  balanced  stress,  the  impulse  de- 
positing its  chief  emphasis  at  neither  extreme,  but  in 
the  middle.  The  first  of  these  rhythms  is  the  dwindling 
expression  which  befits  grief,  loss,  weakness,  collapse 
and  despair  or  calm  and  solemn  lamentation.  The  second 
rhythm,  that  of  cumulative  stress,  is  the  climacteric 
expression  which  belongs  to  all  kinds  of  joy,  gain,  power, 
hope,  inspiration,  and  fulfillment.  As  the  earlier  mode 
carries  depression  or  lamentation,  this  carries  exultation 
and  excitement.  The  exhortation  of  Campbell  to  the 
Greeks  in  their  war  against  the  Turks  points  with  its 
electric  fire: 

'Again  to  the  battle,  Achaeans! ' 

The  third  species  of  rhythm  is  the  poised  expression 
suited  for  those  modes  of  experience  which  join  the 
beauties  of  the  two  previous  kinds  of  movement,  blend- 
ing the  tearful  pathos  of  the  one  with  the  inspiring  energy 
of  the  other,  in  a  beauty  whose  charm  surpasses 
both." 

Mr.  Alger,  in  this,  forgot  that  the  trochee  is  tender  in 
the  sense  of  joy  and  love  as  well  as  in  that  of  sorrow. 

One  who  will  seek  for  the  spirit  of  a  poem  will  usually 
find  it  embodied  in  its  metric  structure ;  but  no  one  word 
must  be  taken  to  express  the  spirit  of  metre.  Great 
mistakes  have  been  made  in  stating  in  a  mere  phrase 
the  meaning  of  metre.  The  real  feeling  of  a  poem  comes 
usually  from  a  combination  of  feet.  Hardly  a  poem  can 
be  found  in  the  language  with  only  a  single  foot.  The 


HEIGHT   OF   THE   SOUND   WAVES  3^3 

great  masters  of  metre  usually  produced  their  effects 
by  some  change  of  the  feet.  Metre  must,  therefore, 
be  studied  in  some  such  large  sense  as  Mr.  Alger 
suggested. 

Note,  hi  the  first  place,  that  strength  emphasizes 
phrases  cumulatively.  It  is  apt  to  render  the  close  of 
a  phrase  more  energetically  than  the  beginning,  while 
weakness  reverses  this  and  gives  greatest  energy  to 
the  first  of  the  phrase,  relaxing  toward  the  last, 
giving  the  successive  phrases  a  drooping  effect.  The 
"  dropping  "  of  the  voice  at  the  end  of  a  clause  or  sen- 
tence is  a  well-known  fault,  which  Mr.  Alger  explained 
as  the  emphasis  of  weakness.  Certain  reflective  or 
hesitating  actions  of  the  mind,  or  too  great  deliberation 
produce  the  same  result.  A  tender  persuasiveness 
is  always  relaxed  toward  the  close  of  the  clause  or 
sentence.  Sermons  and  speeches  often  have  these 
differences.  I  have  seen  a  preacher  get  into  a  rhythmic 
or  metric  movement  and  he  could  not  get  out  of  it  nor 
did  he  know  what  was  the  trouble. 

Here  we  have  something  of  a  key  to  the  difference 
between  the  iambus  and  the  trochee.  The  iambic  foot 
denotes  resolution,  intensity,  progression.  It  is  more 
or  less  heroic,  and  often  is  somewhat  martial  hi  its  in- 
tensity. The  trochee,  on  the  contrary,  suggests  delicacy, 
uneasiness,  a  kind  of  recoil  in  the  midst  of  hesitating 
feeling.  Notice  that  the  most  plaintive  and  tender  of 
hymns  are  apt  to  be  in  this  foot. 

Where  deep  feeling  is  expressed  in  the  iambic]  it  is 
generally  intense.  The  simplest  hymn  will  illustrate 
this  principle.  Someone  will  ask  why  "  Onward  Chris- 
tian Soldiers  "  is  trochaic.  Though  heroic,  this  poem 
expresses  restlessness  of  the  marching  forward  of  the 
soldier  rather  than  his  resolution. 

In  the  "  Midsummer  Night's  Dream "  the  fairy 
comes  gliding  in  with  a  tripping  dactyllic  metre,  which 


324  MIND   AND  VOICE 

changes  to  the  trochaic  and  then  to  the  iambic  in  the 
last  two  lines  on  account  of  change  in  the  thought, 
feeling)  and  resolution. 

Over  hill,  over  dale, 
Thorough  bush,  thorough  brier, 

Over  park,  over  pale, 
Thorough  flood,  thorough  fire, 

I  do  wander  everywhere, 

Swifter  than  the  moones  sphere ; 

And  I  serve  the  fairy-queen, 

To  dew  her  orbs  upon  the  green. 

The  cowslips  tall  her  pensioners  be: 

In  their  gold  coats  spots  you  see ; 

Those  be  rubies,  fairy  favours, 

In  those  freckles  live  their  savours: 
I  must  go  seek  some  dewdrops  here 
And  hang  a  pearl  in  every  cowslip's  ear. 
"  A  Midsummer  Wight' s  Dream"  Shakespeare. 


The  change  to  iambic  in  the  last  two  lines  indicates 
an  underlying  change  in  the  attitude  of  the  mind  too 
delicate  for  direct  expression  in  words.  To  say,  "  I 
must  be  about  my  business,"  would  be  prose  to  us. 
The  change  may  be  unconscious,  and  this  is  true  of 
all  genuine  metre.  It  expresses  the  unconscious  side 
of  feeling,  the  hidden  mood. 

The  spondee,  in  contrast  to  this,  is  sedate  and 
balanced.  It  expresses  reverence  and  awe.  It  im- 
plies a  still  slower  movement  and  weighty  progression. 
The  most  reverent  hymn  employs  this  foot,  or,  at  any 
rate,  the  spondee  predominates.  In  Gray's  Elegy  it 
suggests  the  contemplative,  meditative  mood. 

Some  emotional  poems  that  seem  to  be  iambic 
contain  many  spondees,  if  this  foot  does  not  pre- 
dominate. 

The  anapaest  corresponds  in  triple  metre  to  the  dual 
iambic,  and  is  similar  in  meaning.  They  are  often  used 


HEIGHT   OF   THE   SOUND    WAVES  325 

together.  Observe  a  beautiful  combination  of  them  in 
Goethe's  "  Erlkonig."  The  dactyl  has  the  same  cor- 
respondence to  the  trochee  and  combines  with  it  in  the 
same  way.  The  amphibrach  is  often  used  in  joyful  or 
jovial  expression. 

The  difference  between  the  dual  and  triple  classes  of 
metre  is,  that  the  latter  indicates  greater  flexibility  of 
movement,  and  is  more  elastic  and  gliding.  If  the  dual 
rhythm  suggests  the  walk,  the  triple  hints  at  the  run. 
In  general,  the  anapaest  is  similar  in  meaning  to  the 
iambus,  the  dactyl  to  the  trochee.  In  fact,  these  are 
more  alike  than  the  iambus  is  to  the  trochee  or  the 
anapaest  to  the  dactyl.  The  trochee  seems  to  be 
combined  with  the  iambus  only  by  means  of  the 
choriambus. 

The  "  starts  "  may  be  practiced  with  all  metric  feet 
on  different  syllables,   for   example,   "la."  Exrcise90 
These  "  starts  "  in  the  various  feet  may  be  J^^fgL 
used  as  an  added  exercise  for  co-ordination 
of  primary  conditions,  as  an  aid  in  developing  the  sense 
of  rhythm.    The  metric  feet  in  all  the  metres  may  be 
arranged  in  syllables  and  prolonged.     This  not  only 
develops   continuity   of    conditions   but   the    sense    of 
rhythm.    Rhythm  is  an  aid  in  the  preservation  of  such 
conditions. 

The  student  should  arrange  short  extracts  from 
various  poems  illustrating  all  the  metres  until  there  is 
an  awakening  of  his  rhythmic  instinct  in  such  a  way 
as  to  realize  not  only  the  nature  but  the  spirit  and  mean- 
ing of  different  kinds  of  metre. 

One  method  of  studying  metre  is  to  select  some 
author  such  as  Shelley,  particularly  strong  hi  metric 
expression,  and  observe  the  subtle  transitions  and 
variations  when  passing  from  one  foot  to  another  in  the 
same  poem.  Note,  for  example,  in  "The  Skylark," 
how  often,  in  changing  to  the  long  line  at  the  end  of  the 


326  MIND   AND   VOICE 

stanza,  there  is  a  change  from  trochee  to  iambic.  The 
short  lines  are  the  abrupt  exultant  emotions  expressive 
of  the  independence  and  lofty  flight  of  the  bird,  while 
the  long  line  expresses  often  the  coming  down  to 
earth  and  realizing  the  slow  plodding  of  one's  own 
walk.  Hence,  the  frequency  of  iambic  feet  in  this  long 
line. 

Select  some  strong  poem,  and,  after  studying  its 
metric  form,  interpret  its  movement  by  the  voice.  Let 
there  be  genuine  active  emotion,  and  notice  that  while 
at  times  there  are  seeming  discords  of  metre,  the  change 
is  really  an  element  of  expression. 

For  example,  in  the  following  lines  from  Coleridge's 
poem  on  "  Mont  Blanc "  the  reader  is  tempted  to 
change  the  accent  of  the  word  "  ravines  "  to  the  first 
syllable,  so  as  to  make  all  the  line  iambic,  but  this  is  a 
blunder.  By  the  change  of  foot  the  poet  makes  one 
feel  as  if  he  stood  on  the  edge  of  a  chasm,  requires  a 
pause,  and  helps  to  a  realization  of  the  picture. 

Ye  ice-falls !  ye  that  from  the  mountain's  brow 
Adown  enormous  ravines  slope  amain  — 
Torrents,  methinks,  that  heard  a  mighty  voice, 
And  stopped  at  once  amid  their  maddest  plunge ! 
Motionless  torrents !  silent  cataracts ! 
Who  made  you  glorious  as  the  gates  of  heaven 
Beneath  the  keen  full  moon?    Who  bade  the  sun 
Clothe  you  with  rainbows?     Who,  with  living  flowers 
Of  loveliest  blue,  spread  garlands  at  your  feet  ? 
From  "  Hymn  to  Mont  Blanc  "  Coleridge. 

Notice  how,  in  the  best  poetry,  writers  change  from 
one  foot  to  another.  There  is  constant  variation.  Often 
a  seeming  discord  is  introduced  into  the  best  poetry. 
Do  not  regard  this  as  an  imperfection,  but  study  to  find 
the  author's  meaning. 

Render  a  short  poem  or  extract  in  each  of  the  metric 
feet,  study  its  meaning,  and  the  way  in  which  the  voice 
expresses  it. 


HEIGHT   OF    THE    SOUND    WAVES  327 

RECESSIONAL. 

God  of  our  fathers,  known  of  old  — 
Lord  of  our  far-flung  battle  line  — 
Beneath  whose  awful  hand  we  hold 
Dominion  over  palm  and  pine  — 
Lord  God  of  Hosts,  be  with  us  yet, 
Lest  we  forget  —  lest  we  forget ! 

The  tumult  and  the  shouting  dies  — 
The  Captains  and  the  Kings  depart  — 

Still  stands  Thine  ancient  sacrifice, 
An  humble  and  a  contrite  heart. 

Lord  God  of  Hosts,  be  with  us  yet, 

Lest  we  forget  —  lest  we  forget! 

Far-called,  our  navies  melt  away  — 
On  dune  and  headland  sinks  the  fire  — 

Lo,  all  our  pomp  of  yesterday 
Is  one  with  Nineveh  and  Tyre ! 

Judge  of  the  Nations,  spare  us  yet, 

Lest  we  forget  —  lest  we  forget! 

If,  drunk  with  sight  of  power,  we  loose 
Wild  tongues  that  have  not  Thee  in  awe  — 

Such  boasting  as  the  Gentiles  use, 
Or  lesser  breeds  without  the  Law  — 

Lord  God  of  Hosts,  be  with  us  yet, 

Lest  we  forget  —  lest  we  forget! 

For  heathen  heart  that  puts  her  trust 

In  reeking  tube  and  iron  shard  — 
All  valiant  dust  that  builds  on  dust, 

And  guarding  calls  not  Thee  to  guard  — 
For  frantic  boast  and  foolish  word, 

Thy  mercy  on  Thy  People,  Lord! 

Kipling. 

Read  some  poem  in  this  book  printed  as  prose.  Do 
you  realize  at  once  the  difference  between  it  and  prose? 
Can  you  easily  arrange  it  into  lines  and  feet?  The 
student  should  make  careful  study  of  poems  printed  in 
this  way,  and  observe  the  nature  and  character  of  the 
metre  and  length  of  line.  They  are  not  so  printed  be- 
cause the  metre  or  the  length  of  line  is  immaterial, 


328  MIND   AND   VOICE 

but  to  enable  the  student  to  arrange  the  poetic  form  for 
himself  that  he  may  realize  its  nature  and  importance. 
A  poem  so  printed  should  be  written  out  in  poetic  form 
by  the  student. 

Render  a  poem,  first  accentuating  the  mere  metric 
structure,  and,  secondly,  giving  the  deeper  and  more 
natural  rhythmic  alternation  between  thinking  and 
speaking.  While  doing  this  note  that  the  rhythmic 
character  of  the  passage  has  not  been  decreased  but 
increased,  and  the  spirit  of  the  metre  made  manifest. 

V.   DEVELOPMENT   OF   FLEXIBILITY. 

This  subject  of  metre  has  been  discussed  because  it 
is  so  commonly  misunderstood  and  so  frequently  con- 
sidered a  mere  mechanical  matter.  Its  relation  to  voice 
training  should  be  fully  apprehended. 

There  is  also  a  special  reason  for  the  mastery  of 
metre  in  the  development  of  flexibility.  The  practice 
of  metre  affords  one  of  the  finest  exercises  for  this. 
The  alternation  of  strong  and  weak  syllables  is  an 
exercise  not  only  of  accent,  and  thus  helpful  in  de- 
veloping pleasing  speech,  but  also  it  is  an  exercise  in 
accentuation. 

The  Greeks  held  that  there  were  two  accents,  the 
thesis  and  the  arsis.  One  is  the  placing  of  the  foot,  the 
other  the  lifting  of  the  foot.  The  metric  foot  was  illus- 
trated by  the  action  of  the  foot  in  walking.  The  voice 
must  make  the  heavy  accent,  giving  a  strong  ictus  to 
certain  syllables  and  a  lighter  to  certain  other  syllables. 
The  heavy  and  the  light  constitute  one  of  the  charms  of 
all  speaking,  even  hi  everyday  prose. 

Whether  metre  is  a  matter  of  accent  or  of  quantity 
has  been  long  discussed.  Without  going  into  this 
difficult  question  and  into  the  various  experiments 
conducted  in  the  physiological  and  psychological  labo- 
ratories we  must  recognize  that  both  of  them  play 


HEIGHT   OF   THE   SOUND   WAVES  329 

certain  roles.  Sometimes  one  plays  a  more  predom- 
inant part  than  the  other,  but  in  every  instance,  in 
English  metre  at  any  rate,  accent  has  something  to  do 
with  it.  It  is  this  aspect  of  metre  which  is  important, 
and  its  mastery  brings  repose,  dignity,  and  beauty  to 
human  speech. 

The  universal  neglect  of  metre  has  had  a  disastrous 
effect  upon  ordinary  speech.  Pleasing  rhythm  and 
metre,  especially  when  united  in  the  rhythmic  alterna- 
tion of  ^silence  and  speech,  when  rightly  co-ordinated 
and  harmonized,  constitute  one  of  the  phenomena  of 
beautiful  speech. 

Professor  Barber,  a  teacher  of  former  years,  marked 
such  a  line  as  "  On  Linden  when  the  sun  was  low," 
and  called  for  practice  of  the  opposition  between  the 
strong  syllables  and  the  subordinate  ones.  He  called 
the  balance  of  these  poise.  Such  an  exercise  can 
hardly  be  too  strongly  recommended.  There  is  little 
danger  of  exaggeration  of  metre  in  English,  especially 
of  the  elements  associated  with  accent.  Such  practice 
does  not  produce  singsong.  On  the  contrary,  it  tends 
to  help  the  vigor  of  the  touch,  and  when  co-ordinated 
with  other  modulations  of  the  voice  may  prevent  the 
mechanical  and  emotional  drifts  which  give  rise  to 
singsong.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  this  is  not  a  fault  of 
rhythm  but  of  melody.  It  is  giving  up  the  inflexions 
and  changes  of  pitch  and  merely  allowing  the  assertion 
or  exercise  of  the  rhythmic  element.  In  short,  faulty 
speech  tunes  are  due  to  a  failure  to  harmonize  rhythm 
and  melody. 

One  point  regarding  the  importance  of  metre  is  shown 
by  the  fact  that  metre  is  not  the  mere  relationship  of 
syllables,  but  is  really  found  in  everything  we  say. 
Everything,  even  prose,  when  continuous  and  expres- 
sive of  conditions,  is  either  trochaic,  iambic,  dual,  or 
triple  in  metre.  The  common  metres  are  really  phases 


33<>  MIND  AND  VOICE 

of  movement.  Many  a  speech  is  given  trochaically, 
that  is,  in  a  certain  mood.  Others  are  given  with  a  cer- 
tain progressive  and  intense,  resolute  way  that  is  really 
iambic  movement. 

It  may  be  wise  for  the  student  to  take  a  poem  and 
read  it  with  the  spondaic,  the  iambic  and  the  trochaic 
movement.  Almost  any  poem  written  in  these  metres 
is  capable  of  such  perverted  rendition.  Sometimes  this 
wrong  use  is  one  of  the  best  methods  of  awakening  a 
sense  of  metre  and  its  meaning  and  the  interpretation 
of  its  spirit  by  the  voice.  Who  has  not  heard  a  poem 
read  as  prose?  or  in  a  different  metre  from  its  own? 

VI.   MOVEMENT. 

The  climax  and  glory  of  vocal  expression  is  a  certain 
modulation  of  rhythm  by  feeling,  a  sense  of  importance 
and  weight  or  degrees  of  control  and  excitement.  This 
climax  of  flexibility  belongs  rather  to  vocal  expression, 
but  all  work  in  flexibility  will  lack  its  highest  signifi- 
cance and  application  unless  the  student  carries  his 
work  into  vocal  expression  of  the  simplest  prose  as  well 
as  of  the  highest  poetry. 

Monotony  of  movement  is  the  worst  of  monotonies. 
It  means  that  every  successive  idea  has  just  the  same 
value.  There  is  no  sense  of  importance.  It  results 
often  from  inflexibility  o?~the"whole  vocal  mechanism, 
but  more  frequently  from  lack  of  sympathetic  assimila- 
tion. The  ideas  are  taken  merely  as  ideas,  and  are 
announced  for  their  own  sake  without  being  sympa- 
thetically weighed  by  experience. 

How  can  we  realizeTlfie  nature  of  movement?  First, 
render  successively  two  passages  totally  different  in 
spirit.  Then  give  successively  two  passages  that  seem 
similar.  The  wide  difference  between  the  first  two 
passages  which  seem  so  much  alike  can  be  easily  ob- 
served, and  even  these  when  definitely  and  intensely 


HEIGHT   OF   THE   SOUND   WAVES  331 

realized  stand  in  great  contrast.  Other  exercises  might 
be  given,  such  as  reading  a  passage  with  different  de- 
grees of  earnestness,  observing  the  modulations  of  the 
voice  which  are  especially  changed  to  express  a  greater 
degree  of  earnestness. 

Still  another  way  to  realize  the  nature  of  rhythm  is 
the  practice  of  sudden  changes  in  situation,  excitement, 
or  control. 

It  will  be  observed  that  one  of  the  most  important  of 
all  transitions  is  in  movement.  The  fundamental  key  to 
movement  is  sympathetic  identification.  The  function 
of  ideas  is  expressed  in  form;  their  feeling  or  the  emo- 
tional response  to  them  by  modulations  in  resonance. 
The  sense  of  importance  or  the  weighing  of  the  relative 
flow  of  ideas  and  the  degree  of  control  over  feeling,  are 
expressed  by  variations  of  mood.  It  is  by  rhythm  that 
time  is  measured,  and  that  we  give  to  successive  ideas 
our  indication  of  their  importance.  Monotony  of  rhythm 
means  neutrality  of  mental  attitude,  a  failure  to  express 
the  real  self.  Movement  is  the  expression  of  the  effect 
of  our  ideas  upon  our  deepestlifer^ 

Flexibility,    as    shown     especially    by    transition    in 
movement,  not  only  gives  ease  to  the  speaker 
and  pleasure  to  the  hearer,  but  impresses  Rhythmic. ' 

Flexibility. 

upon  others  better  than  in  any  other  way  the 
relative  value  and  importance,  the  degree  of  control  of 
passion  or  intensity,  and  the  degree  of  dignity  of  the 
ideas  expressed. 

The  Bridegroom  in  his  robe  of  white 

Sat  at  the  table-head  — 
"  Oh,  who  is  that  who  moans  without?  " 

The  blessed  Bridegroom  said. 
'T  was  one  look'd  from  the  lighted  hall, 

And  answer'd  fierce  and  low, 
"  'T  is  the  soul  of  Judas  Iscariot 

Gliding  to  and  fro." 


332  MIND    AND  VOICE 

>T  was  the  soul  of  Judas  Iscariot 

Did  hush  itself  and  stand, 
And  saw  the  Bridegroom  at  the  door 

With  a  light  in  his  hand. 
The  Bridegroom  stood  in  the  open  door, 

And  he  was  clad  in  white, 
And  far  within  the  Lord's  Supper 

Was  spread  so  long  and  bright. 

The  Bridegroom  shaded  his  eyes  and  look'd, 

And  his  face  was  bright  to  see  — 
"  What  dost  thou  here  at  the  Lord's  Supper 

With  thy  body's  sins?  "  said  he. 
'T  was  the  soul  of  Judas  Iscariot 

Stood  black,  and  sad,  and  bare  — 
"  I  have  wander' d  many  nights  and  days; 

There  is  no  light  elsewhere." 

'T  was  the  wedding  guests  cried  out  within, 

And  their  eyes  were  fierce  and  bright  — 
"  Scourge  the  soul  of  Judas  Iscariot 

Away  into  the  night!  "... 
JT  was  the  Bridegroom  stood  at  the  open  door, 

And  beckon'd,  smiling  sweet; 
'T  was  the  soul  of  Judas  Iscariot 

Stole  in,  and  fell  at  his  feet. 

"  The  Holy  Supper  is  spread  within, 

And  the  many  candles  shine, 
And  I  have  waited  long  for  thee 

Before  I  pour'd  the  wine!  " 
The  supper  wine  is  pour'd  at  last, 

The  lights  bum  bright  and  fair, 
Iscariot  washes  the  Bridegroom's  feet, 

And  dries  them  with  his  hair. 
From  "  The  Ballad  of  Judas  Iscariot "  Robert  Buchanan. 


VII 
THE  SHAPE  OF  THE  SOUND  WAVES 

XXIV.    SECONDARY  VIBRATIONS 

Sound,  as  has  been  shown,  is  a  succession  of  vibra- 
tions or  waves  of  the  air,  the  length  of  these  giving  the 
pitch;  their  amplitude  causing  loudness;  their  form  or 
complexity  affording  the  necessary  quality  usually 
called  resonance. 

The  improvement  of  two  of  these  in  the  human  voice 
having  been  discussed,  we  now  come  to  the  third.  The 
facts  regarding  the  form  of  the  sound  waves  and  the 
improvement  of  the  secondary  vibrations  are  far  more 
complex  and  difficult. 

The  form  of  the  sound  waves  is  due  to  certain  acces- 
sory vibrations  superimposed  upon  each  other  upon 
various  pitches  higher  than  the  fundamental  note. 

Although  this  description  is  in  accordance  with  the 
science  of  sound  so  far  as  known,  and  seems  simple, 
yet  in  relation  to  this  third  point,  the  shape  of  the  sound 
waves,  we  encounter  innumerable  difficulties  and  un- 
answered questions.  Musical  instruments  have  little 
control  over  secondary  vibrations.  Their  resonance  is 
determined  by  their  construction,  their  form,  their  size, 
even  the  materials  whence  they  are  made.  The  player 
modulates  them  chiefly  by  his  use  of  force.  The  violin, 
the  most  resonant  and  expressive  of  all  musical  instru- 
ments, has  little  power  of  modulation  over  resonance, 
as  compared  with  the  human  voice. 


334  MIND   AND   VOICE 

I.   OVERTONES. 

The  first  element  in  the  shaping  of  sound  waves  is 
caused  by  vibrations  or  waves  simultaneous  with  those 
which  are  primary  or  which  give  the  pitch.  To  illustrate, 
if  we  stretch  a  string  and  sound  it,  the  vibration  of  the 
string  in  its  complete  length  causes  the  pitch  of  the 
tone  and  gives  the  primary  or  fundamental  vibration; 
but  simultaneously  with  the  waves  of  the  string  in  its 
entire  length,  it  vibrates  in  parts,  giving  still  other 
vibrations  shorter  and  hence  on  a  higher  pitch.  If  we 
touch  the  string  in  the  centre  with  a  paper  knife  we  pro- 
duce a  tone  an  octave  higher.  This  is  the  first  of  the 
secondary  vibrations  or  overtones.  By  touching  the 
string  in  different  places  still  others  higher  in  pitch  may 
be  heard.  The  touch  of  the  paper  knife  of  course  elimi- 
nates the  vibrations  of  the  string  in  its  entire  length 
and  reveals  those  an  octave  higher.  The  string  is  divided 
in  parts  according  to  regular  mathematical  ratios.  The 
primary  and  all  these  secondary  vibrations,  of  course, 
are  simultaneous,  making  a  sound  wave  very  complex. 

Virtually  no  simple  sound,  that  is,  a  sound  without 
secondary  vibrations,  exists  in  nature.  The  maker  of 
a  tuning  fork  endeavors  to  eliminate  all  overtones  so 
as  to  emphasize  the  fundamental  vibration  or  note,  but 
he  is  not  wholly  successful. 

These  overtones,  after  some  practice,  can  be  heard  by 
the  ordinary  ear.  Notice  the  ringing  of  a  bell  or  the 
note  of  a  piano  or  organ  as  the  tone  dies  away.  Helm- 
holtz  recommends  the  sounding  of  a  note  on  a  piano 
and  then  giving  the  key  on  one  of  the  overtones.  After 
releasing  this  the  overtone  will  still  be  heard  because 
by  this  means  attention  has  been  called  to  this  par- 
ticular overtone. 

The  possible  shapes  in  a  sound  wave,  the  number 
and  changes  of  the  overtone  or  secondary  vibrations 


THE   SHAPE    OF   THE   SOUND   WAVES  335 

seem  innumerable.  Some  are  agreeable  and  consti- 
tute the  beauties  of  an  instrument  of  music.  Others 
are  more  or  less  disagreeable.  A  tone  is  pleasant  in 
proportion  to  the  number  and  the  accordant  or  har- 
monious relations  of  the  overtones;  and  disagreeable 
in  proportion  to  accentuation  of  discordant  overtones. 

In  the  construction  of  a  piano,  long  years  of  experi- 
ment have  been  required  to  eliminate  discordant  vibra- 
tions and  develop  accordant  ones.  Among  the  few  good 
makers  of  pianos,  investigations  have  been  conducted 
for  many  years  in  order  to  accentuate  the  right  or  beauti- 
ful secondary  vibrations  and  eliminate  those  which  are 
disagreeable. 

In  the  science  of  sound  it  has  been  discovered  that 
the  number  of  overtones  in  a  violin  is  twenty-one;  in 
a  flute,  fourteen.  The  number  and  the  character  of  the 
overtones  constitute  the  difference  between  one  musical 
instrument  and  another,  and  one  voice  and  another. 

II.   SYMPATHETIC   VIBRATIONS. 

The  shaping  of  the  sound  waves  is  also  affected  by 
what  may  be  called  sympathetic  vibrations.  What  are 
these  and  how  do  they  differ  from  overtones?  When 
two  strings  are  stretched  side  by  side  and  attuned  to 
the  same  pitch,  if  one  be  sounded  the  other  will  also 
sound.  If  we  sound  one  of  the  strings,  and  then  with 
the  hand  stop  its  vibrations,  we  can  hear  the  sound 
from  the  other  string,  or,  if  we  sound  a  tuning  fork  and 
hold  it  until  the  sound  becomes  so  faint  that  we  cannot 
hear  it,  and  then  place  it  over  the  mouth  of  a  bottle  and 
pour  in  water  until  the  pitch  of  the  chamber  corresponds 
to  that  of  the  fork,  the  notes  will  again  be  heard. 

If  we  sound  a  tuning  fork  and  hold  it  until  it  is  no 
longer  heard  and  then  set  it  upon  a  board  the  sound  will 
be  so  reenforced  that  it  will  once  more  be  heard. 

Touch  the  key  of  a  piano  in  such  a  way  as  to  lift  the 


336  MIND   AND   VOICE 

hammer  from  the  string  without  producing  sound,  next 
give  the  same  note  by  the  voice  or  another  instrument 
and  then  stop;  the  string  will  be  heard  to  sound. 

By  attuning  strings  in  different  pitches,  bringing  out 
and  thus  strengthening  various  overtones  by  sympa- 
thetic vibrations,  we  can  greatly  increase  weak  over- 
tones and  produce  much  more  harmonious  results. 
Greater  volume  can  also  be  given  in  this  way  since  the 
fundamental  as  well  as  the  secondary  vibrations  may 
be  strengthened. 

The  science  of  sound  distinguishes  two  forms  of 
sympathetic  vibrations,  consonance  and  resonance.  We 
may  suspend  the  violin  string  over  a  rod  and  stretch  it 
by  weights  until  it  exactly  corresponds  in  tune  with  a 
string  on  the  violin,  but  the  sound  is  very  weak. 
The  string  on  the  violin  is  fuller  because  it  rests 
upon  the  bridge  which  directly  connects  it  with  the  in- 
strument. This  is  called  consonance.  Resonance  may 
be  illustrated  by  sounding  a  tuning  fork  and  holding  it 
over  the  embouchure  of  organ  pipes.  At  the  one  which 
corresponds  in  pitch  the  pipe  will  sound  as  if  air  were 
blown  into  it. 

This  distinction  is  practically  overlooked  in  the  dis- 
cussion of  the  voice  because  consonance  and  resonance 
act  together.  The  word  "  resonance  "  is  often  used  as 
including  also  consonance.  It  is  also  often  employed 
as  a  broad  popular  name  for  all  secondary  vibrations, 
whether  due  to  overtones,  to  reverberations  and  sym- 
pathetic vibrations  or  the  strengthening  of  both  the 
fundamental  note  and  any  of  the  overtones.  The 
French  word  "  timbre  "  is  also  used  in  this  broad  sense, 
as  is  tone  color,  but  on  account  of  the  need  of  some 
word  to  express  the  emotional  modulation  of  all  the 
secondary  vibrations  I  always  confine  tone  color  to  that 
universally  overlooked  phase  of  vocal  expression. 

The  songs  of  birds  form  one  of  the  most  interesting 


THE   SHAPE   OF   THE   SOUND   WAVES  337 

though  little  investigated  phases  of  sympathetic  vibra- 
tions. The  most  musical  birds  have  a  surprisingly  crude 
syrinx  which  corresponds  in  the  bird  with  the  larynx  of 
animals.  If  anyone  will  observe  a  little  canary  singing 
he  will  see  the  vibrations  of  all  parts,  even  of  every 
feather.  Birds  have  air  chambers  through  the  different 
parts  of  the  body,  and  all  of  these  are  brought  into  sym- 
pathetic vibrations  when  the  fundamental  note  is  given 
in  its  voice  box.  The  marvelous  volume  of  the  sound 
as  compared  with  the  size  of  the  bird  is  something 
astonishing. 

Three  bell  birds  were  brought  to  New  York,  but  un- 
fortunately they  died.  It  has  been  said  that  by  swelling 
out  a  small  protuberance  under  the  bill  they  could  be 
heard  a  great  distance.  There  was  marvelous  strength 
to  the  tone,  somewhat  analogous  to  the  howling  monkeys. 

The  most  beautiful  illustration  I  have  ever  found  of 
sympathetic  vibration  is  observed  in  the  so-called 
"  trumpeter."  This  bird,  about  half  as  large  as  a  hen, 
though  with  longer  legs,  will  utter  two  or  three  "  cheeps  " 
not  stronger  nor  more  musical  than  the  note  of  a  small 
chicken,  and  then  will  begin  its  trumpet  note  which  is  a 
totally  different  sound.  Its  whole  body  seems  to  quiver; 
the  feathers  rise  and  vibrate  extremely.  The  tone  is 
most  rich  and  musical. 

Few  investigations  have  been  made  as  yet  regarding 
this  marvelous  tone.  Some  think  that  this  bird  has  a 
kind  of  larynx  which  extends  around  the  body  under 
the  skin,  but  this  has  been  found  untrue.  The  gentle- 
man in  charge  of  them  in  the  Zoological  Gardens  in  the 
Bronx  thinks  that  the  tone  is  made  inside  of  the  body 
and  is  totally  separated  from  its  chirp.  It  certainly 
sounds  very  different. 

I  give  it  as  my  opinion,  though  I  have  not  been  able 

to  make  all  the  experiments  which  such  a  statement 

^demands,  that  the  "  cheep  "  is  made  inflexionally  and 


338  MIND   AND   VOICE 

without  any  sympathetic  vibrations,  but  the  instant  the 
trumpet  tone  begins  it  is  sustained  on  one  pitch  and 
the  whole  body  is  brought  into  sympathetic  vibration. 
The  bird  must  chirp  on  beginning  his  trumpet  tone.  He 
then  suddenly  expands,  the  feathers  extend,  and  the 
whole  body  vibrates.  This  vibration  can  be  seen  plainly 
by  the  eye  while  its  ordinary  chirp  is  purely  local  with 
the  body  quiescent. 

III.   SECONDARY  VIBRATIONS  OF  THE  HUMAN  VOICE. 

We  find  all  the  phenomena  of  the  accessory  vibrations 
in  the  voice.  The  chest  chamber,  for  example,  when 
full  of  sympathetically  reserved  breath,  is  put  into  tune, 
or  into  a  condition  favorable  to  vibration.  It  strengthens 
and  shapes  the  tones  made  by  the  vocal  bands  in  the 
same  way  that  the  chamber  of  a  violin  strengthens  and 
harmonizes  the  vibrations  of  the  strings.  The  vocal 
bands  seem  to  act  like  a  string ;  that  is,  they  make  addi- 
tional vibrations  higher  than  the  primary  one  that  gives 
the  fundamental  pitch.  Next  we  note  the  whole  voice 
box  or  larynx  with  the  false  vocal  chords  and  the  "  pock- 
ets "  between  these  and  the  true  chords,  and  all  parts 
of  this  box,  whatever  their  other  functions,  add  also  by 
consonance  and  resonance  secondary  vibrations  to  the 
primary  one. 

Every  chamber  in  the  head  similarly  affects  the  tone. 
In  fact,  the  vocal  instrument  consists  of  the  whole  body ; 
sympathetic  vibrations  come  from  every  part.  Hence, 
conditions  of  health  and  modulations  of  the  muscles, 
through  sympathetic  response  to  feeling,  may  give  by 
accessory  sympathetic  vibrations  great  richness  to  the 
voice. 

Breath  in  the  lungs  adds  greatly  to  the  resonance. 
When  constricted  we  have  the  worst  abnormal  qualities 
or  faults,  such  as  throatiness,  nasality,  or  flatness.  When 
the  pharynx  is  open,  the  tone  is  open,  free,  and  rich; 


THE   SHAPE   OF   THE   SOUND   WAVES          339 

the  pharynx  constituting  the  key  to  the  secondary  vibra- 
tions of  all  other  parts,  just  as  the  larynx  is  the  key  to 
the  primary  vibration.  We  must  first  have  primary 
vibrations  from  the  vocal  bands,  and  next  an  open,  free 
pharynx  before  all  the  overtones  and  sympathetic 
vibrations  can  be  brought  into  harmony.  Any  constriction 
of  the  pharynx  eliminates  or  perverts  all  the  overtones. 

The  narial  chambers  are  of  great  importance.  Their 
constriction  by  abnormal  action  of  the  soft  palate  or  the 
muscles  at  the  summit  of  the  pharynx  or  at  the  back  of 
the  tongue  perverts  some  of  the  most  beautiful  elements 
in  tone.  When  the  posterior  nares,  or  other  nasal 
chambers,  are  filled  with  mucus,  or  injured  by  disease, 
the  voice  is  affected.  Both  the  vibrations  of  the  upper 
and  of  the  lower  parts  of  the  narial  chambers  should 
be  perfectly  free  and  unimpeded.  Nasality,  the  most 
disagreeable  of  faults,  is  a  perversion  of  these  vibrations. 
All  the  chambers  of  the  head  or  skull  affect  the  tone; 
it  is  said  that  disease  in  any  sinus  affects  the  voice.  In 
tenors  especially  the  bones  of  the  head  vibrate. 

The  shape  of  the  mouth  chambers  mold  tone  into 
the  various  vowels  by  the  modulation  of  the  secondary 
vibrations. 

Last,  the  whole  body  serves  as  the  sounding  board 
of  the  voice.  Emotion  diffuses  itself  into  every  part 
and  changes  the  texture  of  the  muscles.  With 
this  comes  a  corresponding  change  in  these  vibrations. 
Feeling  may  permeate  all  the  muscles  of  the  body  mak- 
ing them  soft  as  jelly  or  hard  as  flint  according  to  its 
character.  The  result  is  a  corresponding  change  in  the 
secondary  and  sympathetic  vibrations  giving  the  voice 
that  infinite  variation  of  coloring  which  constitutes  the 
glory  of  true  vocal  expression. 

The  story  is  told  of  some  students  who  in  a  freak 
painted  their  college  bell.  It  was  ruined.  Some  years 
ago  a  beautiful  bell  was  placed  in  a  church  tower  and  its 


340  MIND   AND   VOICE 

tones  were  so  rich  and  musical  that  the  whole  neigh- 
borhood was  charmed.  All  at  once  the  sounds  changed. 
The  authorities  of  the  church  sent  to  the  factory  and 
said:  "  Our  bell  has  changed  its  tone,  and  we  do  not 
like  it  so  well.  What  is  the  cause?  "  A  specialist  was 
sent  and  he  found  that  the  sexton  had  oiled  the  machinery 
and  a  few  drops  had  fallen  upon  the  edge  of  the  bell. 

In  the  same  way  a  slight  constriction  in  the  tone 
passage  may  cause  a  most  disagreeable  tone.  The  ear 
can  distinguish  the  difference  in  quality  between  a 
wooden  and  a  silver  flute,  though  keyed  exactly  to- 
gether; differences  between  the  tones  of  two  violins 
made  by  different  makers  can  be  detected;  the  small- 
est obstruction,  change,  or  bruise  on  a  piano  will 
affect  its  tone  unfavorably.  Such  changes,  however, 
are  extremely  slight  compared  with  the  response  of  the 
multitudinous  vibrations  of  the  voice  to  changes  in  the 
human  body  in  response  to  human  feelings.  When 
the  body  has  been  trained  into  oneness,  when  constric- 
tions have  been  removed  from  the  tone  passage,  and 
the  voice  has  been  "  placed "  with  every  part  per- 
forming its  normal  function,  then  the  least  change  in 
imagination  and  feeling  will  affect  the  vibrations  of  the 
voice. 

There  seems  nothing  exactly  analogous  to  this  modu- 
lation in  musical  instruments.  In  the  organ,  the  king  of 
instruments,  we  have  different  stops  which  cause  an 
analogous  variation,  but  how  poor  are  the  changes  com- 
pared with  a  pleasing,  well-trained  human  voice,  and 
what  vast  and  cumbrous  mechanisms  are  necessary  to 
produce  the  variations.  The  voice  makes  all  variations 
with  the  same  body,  the  same  organs  by  a  simple  change 
of  texture  which  can  never  be  produced  by  any  mechani- 
cal instrument. 

In  the  voice  itself  this  can  only  result  from  carefully 
trained  organs  responding  to  genuine  imagination  and 


THE   SHAPE   OF   THE   SOUND   WAVES          341 

feeling.  No  vibration  can  be  made  beautiful  by  manip- 
ulation. Speech  can  be  rich  and  sympathetically  vibra- 
tory only  when  the  emotion  is  normally  diffused  through 
the  whole  nervous  system. 


XXV.     THE   DEVELOPMENT    OF    SECONDARY 
VIBRATIONS 

All  the  various  elements,  classes,  or  kinds  of  secondary 
vibrations  are  intimately  connected  with  each  other.  In 
developing  any  one,  we  more  or  less  improve  all  the 
others.  We  are  brought  naturally  to  secondary  vi- 
brations by  the  mastery  of  the  preceding  steps,  and  in 
fact,  if  the  exercises  have  been  properly  mastered,  the 
resonance  of  the  voice  has  been  constantly  improving 
though  gradually  and  unconsciously. 

In  general,  whatever  will  bring  all  parts  of  the  body 
into  sympathetic  relationship,  whatever  will  remove 
constrictions  from  the  tone  passage  or  vocal  mechanism, 
or  develop  the  right  functioning  of  the  parts  and  establish 
right  conditions  will  improve  the  overtones  and  all  the 
secondary  vibrations. 

Important  as  these  steps  are,  however,  they  are  in- 
direct, and  we  must  now  proceed  to  a  closer  and  more 
immediate  study  of  the  action  of  the  vocal  mechanism 
that  produces  accessory  vibrations. 

At  the  beginning  of  such  development  we  should  care- 
fully note  a  certain  principle  or  apparent  law.  If  any 
musical  instrument  be  forced  beyond  its  normal  vibra- 
tion by  the  action  of  the  motor  power,  its  sympathetic 
vibrations  are  lessened.  If,  for  example,  the  performer 
on  a  violin  bears  too  hard  on  the  bow,  noise  results  rather 
than  music.  If  the  bow  be  too  heavy,  or  made  of  the 
wrong  material,  the  rich  vibrations  are  lost  and  the 
overtones  will  be  suppressed  or  perverted.  The  proper 
pitch  may  Be  given,  but  abnormal  vibrations  will  be 


342  MIND   AND   VOICE 

introduced.  A  piano  player  produces  his  ideal  effects  by 
the  delicacy  of  his  "  touch." 

Accordingly,  in  proportion  to  delicacy  of  touch  and 
elimination  of  loudness  in  any  instrument  will  there  be 
an  accentuation  of  accessory  vibrations.  If  a  string  be 
given  undue  amplitude  of  vibration,  its  fundamental 
vibration  will  be  so  extended  as  to  interfere  with  the 
breaking-up  of  that  same  string  into  its  "  nodes." 
Straining  a  string  seems  also  to  eliminate  or  pervert 
both  consonance  and  resonance. 

This  principle  is  especially  applicable  to  the  voice. 
If  anyone  forces  his  vocal  bands,  his  heavy  muscles  are 
constricted  and  the  delicate  muscles  consequently  so 
swallowed  up  in  the  neighboring  larger  ones,  the  human 
or  accessory  becoming  a  part  of  the  adjacent  animal 
muscles,  that  the  tone  becomes  disagreeable.  In  pro- 
portion to  the  loudness  is  the  elimination  of  the  higher 
and  more  delicate  secondary  vibrations,  or  a  perversion 
of  consonance  and  resonance  as  well  as  an  introduction 
of  discordant  overtones  and  sympathetic  vibrations. 

A  single  word  may  be  so  practiced  as  to  furnish  a  good 
test  of  this  law,  if  not  a  technical  exercise  for  accentua- 
tion of  this  transcendence  of  conditions. 

Utter  the  word  "  home "  from  Payne's  "  Home, 
Sweet  Home  "  with  the  most  intense  love  of  home 
possible.  Repeat  this  many  times,  with  great  relaxa- 
tion of  all  parts,  great  diffusion  of  emotion,  and  open 
and  rich  vibration.  Notice  „  that  the  fundamental 
conditions  become  more  and  more  accentuated.  We 
cannot  soften  the  tone  without  sympathetic  retention 
of  breath.  Notice  also  that  control  of  breath  may  be 
mechanical  and  local,  making  the  tone  hard,  or  the 
breath  may  seem  to  be  retained  by  diffusion  of  activity 
through  the  whole  diaphragm  and  body.  In  proportion 
as  there  is  this  harmonious  activity  will  there  be  an  in- 
crease in  sympathetic  vibrations  and  overtones. 


THE   SHAPE    OF   THE   SOUND   WAVES  343 

From  this  principle  another  reason  can  be  seen  why 
care  must  be  taken  to  master  the  first  steps  before 
beginning  the  exercises  for  resonance.  The  primary  vi- 
brations must  be  easy,  pure,  agile,  and  flexible  before 
exercises  for  secondary  ones  are  consciously  initiated. 

The  voice  should  at  first  be  exercised  with  the  tone 
as  normal  as  possible  in  establishing  the  primary  co- 
ordinations and  conditions,  and  for  developing  essential 
qualities  such  as  freedom,  openness,  purity,  and  agility. 
These  restore  the  vocal  organs  to  their  normal  functioning 
and  establish  right  conditions,  thus  preparing  for  the 
later  work  of  accentuating  delicate  tones  and  volume. 

A  primary,  if  not  necessary,  step  for  the  improvement 
of  the  overtones  is  the  mastery  of  the  power  Exercise  92. 
to  make  the  most  delicate  tone  possible  on  JSSSffiS* 
the  edge  of  the  vocal  bands,  while  emphasi-  "n* 
zing  all  the  elemental  voice  conditions.     This  delicate 
tone,  however,  must  be  made  by  economy  of  the  breath 
expended  while  reserving  the  greatest  possible  amount 
in  the  lungs.    The  tone  passage  must  be  as  open  as  pos- 
sible.   Every  part  must  be  relaxed  and  every  co-ordina- 
tion definitely  established. 

A  delicate  tone  made  by  the  edge  of  the  vocal  bands 
expressive  of  genuine  feeling  stimulates  the  whole 
mucous  membrane  and  the  cells  of  the  lungs;  it  causes 
sympathetic  vibration  hi  the  most  delicate  parts,  from 
the  larynx  to  the  remotest  part  of  the  body,  because  dif- 
fusion of  emotion  brings  ajl  parts  into  harmony  and  the 
delicacy  of  vibration  expresses  and  accentuates  their 
unity. 

Give  "  ah  "  or  an  open  vowel  as  soft  as  possible, 
prolonging  it  with  simple,  steady  continuity.  Later  the 
tone  may  be  supported  on  one  note  and  then  swung 
upward  a  tetrachord. 

One  of  the  most  important  explanations  of  the  effect 
of  such  soft  tones  with  emphasis  of  conditions  is  found 


344  MIND    AND   VOICE 

in  the  fact  that  they  stimulate  the  mucous  membranes. 
Along  the  tone  passage  the  membranes  are  upon  concave 
surfaces.  When  this  passage  is  closed,  or  even  narrowed, 
the  membranes  are  relaxed,  but  in  proportion  to  its 
openness  and  freedom  from  constriction  the  membranes 
will  necessarily  be  more  active.  Close  the  hand,  for 
example,  and  observe  the  condition  of  the  skin  in  the 
palm.  Then  extend  the  hand.  Here  is  a  picture  of  the 
membrane  in  a  collapsed  or  constricted  tone  passage 
and  in  one  that  is  open  and  free.  This  sensitive  mem- 
brane becomes  in  a  properly  opened  tone  passage  almost 
like  many  drum  heads  sympathetically  responsive  to 
every  primary  and  secondary  vibration  of  the  voice.  The 
delicate  exercise  with  conditions  accentuated  stimulates 
this  membrane  to  furnish  sympathetic  vibrations  from 
every  part. 

Delicate  fairy  songs,  or  some  use  of  the  voice  that  im- 
plies the  greatest  delicacy  in  the  modulation  of  force, 
are  a  great  help  in  applying  these  principles. 

The  exercise  should  be  carried  gradually  through  the 
whole  range  of  the  voice.  Working  on  the  edge  of  the 
vocal  bands  in  this  way  is  one  of  the  best  means  of 
developing  accurate  use  of  the  registers,  since  the  vibra- 
tion is  so  confined  to  the  delicate  edge  of  the  vocal  bands 
that  the  heavy  muscles  are  left  quiescent,  and  nature 
has  a  better  chance  to  adjust  the  delicate  mechanism. 
In  nearly  every  case  the  registers  are  misused  from  too 
active  use  of  the  heavier  muscles.  It  is  also  helpful  in 
correcting  the  evil  effects  of  forcing  or  the  practice  of 
loud  exercises  adopted  by  many  to  strengthen  the  voice. 

Strength  of  voice,  as  has  been  shown  under  support, 
is  not  loudness.  By  accentuating  harmonious  reserve 
of  breath  and  openness  of  the  tone  passage  a  soft  tone 
may  have  such  life  as  to  be  heard  at  a  distance.  The 
voice  can  be  strengthened  as  well  as  improved  in  reso- 
nance by  right  practice  of  delicate  exercises. 


THE    SHAPE    OF   THE    SOUND   WAVES          345 

When  loud  tones  are  practiced  at  first  there  is  an 
increase  of  active  expenditure  of  energy  rather  than  its 
reserve  and  the  true  vocal  conditions.  As  a  result  a 
voice  may  be  strained  and  its  overtones  eliminated  or 
perverted. 

We  must  remind  ourselves  once  more  of  the  principle 
of  support,  which  is  most  necessary,  that  there  is  a  kind 
of  opposition  between  energy  that  directly  sets  the 
breath  into  vibration  and  that  which  reserves  it  or  estab- 
lishes the  conditions  of  tone.  Whenever  we  put  energy 
into  active  expenditure  we  lessen  its  retained  conditions, 
or,  at  any  rate,  do  not  increase  them  in  the  same  propor- 
tion. By  making  a  free  and  delicate  tone,  that  is,  by 
minimizing  the  active  expenditure  and  directing  the  will 
to  the  diffusion  of  the  elastic  expansion,  or  activity  of 
the  muscles  reserving  the  breath,  we  greatly  improve 
the  voice  conditions.  Such  exercises  are  always  neces- 
sary before  work  for  volume. 

A  mere  delicate  tone,  however,  will  not  of  itself  neces- 
sarily improve  vibration.  Such  a  tone  can  be  made  a 
means  of  developing  the  overtones  only  by  accentua- 
ting the  fundamental  conditions  at  the  same  time. 

It  is  very  difficult  to  give  an  exceedingly  soft  tone  with 
great  accentuation  of  the  retention  of  the  breath  and  open- 
ness of  the  tone  passage.  Hence,  many  wrong  methods 
of  softening  the  voice  can  be  found.  One  of  these  is  to 
lessen  the  openness  of  the  passage,  especially  the  mouth, 
and  to  soften  tone  by  muffling  it.  Another,  which  has 
even  been  taught,  is  by  aspirating  it,  that  is,  by  wasting 
breath.  This  lessens  support  and  the  tone  drops  at  the 
feet;  but  a  soft  tone  must  be  heard  as  far  as  a  loud  one, 
and  hence  must  have  the  same  conditions. 

One  of  the  easiest  exercises  is  to  render  some  delicate 
hum,  as  in  representing  the  delicate  tones  Exercise  93. 
which  come  from  bells  in  the  wind  and  are 
embodied  in  the  word  "  ding-dong  "  in  the  ~m* 


34^  MIND   AND   VOICE 

following  old  Provencal  rhyme,  where  the  fairies  are 
represented  as  ringing  the  bells.  Such  an  exercise  ac- 
centuates conditions,  while  calling  for  imagination  and 
feeling  to  aid  in  reserving  breath,  making  the  most 
delicate  possible  tone. 

THE  BELLS  OF  ST.  JOHN. 
Ding-dong,  ding-dong, 
Now  are  ringing  the  bells  of  St.  John. 
Who  says  the  prayers,  and  who  rings  them  so  high? 
The  little  children  of  the  sky ! 
From  The  Proven9al  Translated  by  Grace  Rhys. 

In  the  second  stanza  of  the  "  Bugle  Song,"  (p.  200)  is 
found  a  delicate  and  imaginative  picture.  Render  this, 
realizing  fully  the  atmosphere  and  feeling,  giving  the 
words  with  great  delicacy,  purity,  and  increase  of  sym- 
pathetic vibrations. 

Compare  the  conditions  found  in  "  Blow,  bugle,  blow," 
with  those  concerned  in  this  delicate  echo.  Note  espe- 
cially the  greater  harmonious  extension  of  activity  neces- 
sary to  support  and  continue  the  delicate  tone. 

In  the  practice  of  this  anyone  can  realize  that  in  pro- 
portion to  the  delicacy  of  primary  vibrations  will  be  the 
richness  of  secondary  ones,  and  in  proportion  as  we  ex- 
aggerate the  primary  vibrations  in  giving  loudness,  will 
there  be  an  elimination  of  the  secondary  ones.  Grad- 
ually these  secondary  vibrations  become  so  awakened 
that  they  belong  to  the  constant  use  of  the  voice.  The 
tone  becomes  richer  and  more  responsive  to  feeling. 

At  the  last,  tenderly, 

From  the  walls  of  the  powerful,  fortress'd  house, 

From  the  clasp  of  the  knitted  locks  —  from  the  keep  of  the 

well-closed  doors, 
Let  me  be  wafted. 

Let  me  glide  noiselessly  forth; 

With  the  key  of  softness  unlock  the  locks  —  with  a  whisper 
Set  ope  the  doors,  O  soul! 


THE   SHAPE   OF   THE   SOUND    WAVES  347 

Tenderly!  be  not  impatient! 

(Strong  is  your  hold,  O  mortal  flesh ! 

Strong  is  your  hold,  O  love !) 

"  The  Imprisoned  Soul "  Walt  Whitman. 


In  connexion  with  the  rendering  of  fairy  songs  an- 
other important  step  can  be  taken,  —  namely,  the  giving 
of  delicate  tones  with  the  touch  of  speech.  This  is  im- 
portant as  the  staying  of  conditions  in  a  delicate  tone 
sometimes  interferes  with  the  facility,  or  rather  with 
the  concentrated  action  of  the  mind,  in  expressing  itself 
through  decided  pitch.  The  practice  of  delicate  tone  is 
also  of  advantage  in  the  mastery  of  touch. 

A  good  passage  for  vibration  is  the  Fairy  Song  in  "  A 
Midsummer    Night's    Dream."      We    have  Exercise94 
here  one  stanza  by  an  individual  fairy  which  pagination' 
should  be  given  naturally  with  the  touch  and 
rhythm  of  speech,  and  then  we  have  the  chorus  in  which 
the  song  element  will  be  more  pronounced.    That  should 
be  given  with  delicate  recitative.    Use  imagination  and 
feeling;   soften  the  tones  legitimately,  accentuating  not 
eliminating  fundamental  conditions. 

THE  FAIRY  SLUMBER  SONG. 

Titania.     Come,  now  a  roundel  and  a  fairy  song; 
Then,  for  the  third  part  of  a  minute,  hence ;  — 
Some,  to  kill  cankers  in  the  musk-rose  buds ; 
Some,  war  with  rere-mice  for  their  leathern  wings, 
To  make  my  small  elves  coats ;  and  some,  keep  back 
The  clamorous  owl,  that  nightly  hoots  and  wonders 
At  our  quaint  spirits.     Sing  me  now  asleep ; 
Then  to  your  offices,  and  let  me  rest. 

FAIRIES'  SONG. 

First  Fairy.    You  spotted  snakes  with  double  tongue 

Thorny  hedge-hogs,  be  not  seen; 

Newts  and  blindworms,  do  no  wrong, 

Come  not  near  our  fairy  Queen. 


348  MIND   AND   VOICE 

Chorus.          Philomel,  with  melody 

Sing  in  our  sweet  lullaby; 
Lulla,  lulla,  lullaby;  lulla,  lulla,  luUaby: 
Never  harm,  nor  spell  nor  charm, 
Come  our  lovely  lady  nigh ; 
So,  good  night,  with  lullaby. 

Second  Fairy.    Weaving  spiders,  come  not  here ; 

Hence,  you  long-legg'd  spinners,  hence! 
Beetles  black,  approach  not  near ; 
Worm  nor  snail,  do  no  offence 
Chorus.          Philomel,  with  melody,  &c. 

First  Fairy.    Hence,  away !  now  all  is  well : 

One  aloof  stand  sentinel. 
"  A  Midsummer  Night's  Dream ' '  Shakespeare. 

Give  also  the  song  of  Ariel  as  delicately  as  possible. 
Conceive  his  ideal  character  and  enter  into  sympathy 
with  him.  Remember  that  though  Ferdinand  hears  this 
sound,  he  cannot  tell  whence  it  comes. 

Full  fathom  five  thy  father  lies 

Of  his  bones  are  coral  made ; 
Those  are  pearls  that  were  his  eyes; 

Nothing  of  him  that  doth  fade 
But  doth  suffer  a  sea-change 
Into  something  rich  and  strange. 
Sea-nymphs  hourly  ring  his  knell: 

Ding-dong. 

Hark!  now  I  hear  them  —  ding,  dong,  bell! 
From  Ariel's  Song  Shakespeare. 

Repeat  "  Ding,  dong,  bell "  over  and  over,  with  an 
instrument  on  one  pitch,  as  a  technical  exercise  for 
sympathetic  vibrations. 

Many  teachers  condemn  humming.  Some  think  it 
makes  the  voice  reedy,  others  that  it  is  weakening.  To 
these  objections  it  may  be  answered  that  all  depends 
upon  the  way  such  exercises  are  practiced.  When  too 
much  forced,  they  tend  to  produce  reediness;  when 


THE   SHAPE   OF   THE   SOUND   WAVES          349 

taken  lazily,  or  without  control  of  the  breath,  they  cer- 
tainly are  useless  and  perhaps  weaken  the  voice. 

In  case  of  a  lack  of  narial  vibration  in  the  voice,  hum- 
ming exercises  may  be  directed  toward  certain  parts 
where  there  seems  to  be  rigidity  and  lack  of  vibration. 

Observe  the  value  of  practicing  "  m  "  with  these  con- 
ditions.    Give  this  with  great  relaxation  of  Exercise95 
the  whole  throat,  mouth,  and  jaw,  and  espe-  garfai  vibra- 
cially  the  tongue,  retaining  a  great  deal  of 
breath  and  exercising  the  fundamental  co-ordinations. 
Be  sure  that  the  vibrations  of  "  m  "  are  not  localized, 
but  are  felt  through  the  whole  mouth.    This  is  a  wonder- 
fully helpful  exercise  for  the  removal  of  constriction  and 
restoring   normal   conditions   of   all   the   narial  vibra- 
tions and  bringing  them  into  harmony  with  the  mouth 
vibrations. 

Dr.  Charles  A.  Guilmette  invented  a  series  of  exer- 
cises for  what  he  called  "  points  of  resonance."  Exercise  96. 
For   example,   taking   the    consonant   "n"  the^inSSf 
followed  by  the  vowel   "  e,"   he  had  the  Resonance- 
student  intensely  realize  and  feel  the  vibration  of  "  n  " 
in  the  front  part  of  the  nose,  and  then  follow  it  immedi- 
ately with  "  e  "  vibrating  in  the  front  part  of  the  mouth, 
making  the  vibrations  of  the  two  as  near  the  same  point 
as  possible.     He  contended  that  this  developed  the 
vibrations  of  the  lower  part  of  the  nose  which  he  called 
"  lower  pituitary  "  vibrations. 

He  used  the  syllable  "  ung "  and  after  making  a 
quick  "  short  u  "  passed  immediately  to  the  "  ng  "  pro- 
longing this  sound.  This,  he  held,  developed  what  he 
called  the  "  upper  pituitary  "  vibrations.  These  exer- 
cises were  usually  given  loud  and  strong,  in  such  a 
way  as  to  stimulate,  as  he  contended,  the  mucous  mem- 
branes at  one  particular  point.  He  called  the  mucous 
membrane  the  "  phonator "  of  the  voice.  Certainly 
upon  the  healthful  and  sympathetic  condition  of  this 


350  MIND   AND   VOICE 

greatly  depends  resonance.  He  selected  the  letter  "  1  " 
followed  by  "  eh  "  and  gave  it  sometimes  very  softly 
and  at  other  times  as  loud  and  open  as  possible  in 
order  to  develop  resonance  of  the  roof  of  the  mouth. 
The  word  "  call  "  he  used  in  the  same  way  for  the  back 
part  of  the  mouth.  Possibly  he  claimed  too  much  for  the 
mucous  membrane,  but  its  function  has  been  overlooked. 

It  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  not  only  humming  but 
any  exercise  when  practiced  too  much  may  develop 
some  one  set  of  overtones  at  the  expense  of  others,  for 
true  resonance  of  voice  depends,  not  upon  one  par- 
ticular overtone,  but  upon  sympathetic  relations  of  all. 
Let  the  exercises,  therefore,  be  varied. 

It  is  always  dangerous  greatly  to  exaggerate,  especially 
by  loudness,  the  vibrations  of  some  specific  chamber 
or  agent,  except  for  some  case  of  special  weakness.  In 
using  exercises  for  individual  parts,  accordingly,  vary 
the  vowels  or  elements,  and  in  the  practice  for  some 
local  vibration  endeavor  to  bring  all  into  harmony. 

In  the  development  of  resonance,  especial  attention 
should  be  given  to  the  pillars  of  the  soft  palate.  When 
these  are  constricted  the  voice  is  hard  or  wholly  lacking 
in  sympathetic  vibrations.  They  pervert  more  quickly 
than  perhaps  any  other  part,  except  the  soft  palate 
itself,  the  overtones  which  give  richness  and  warmth. 
The  back  of  the  tongue  vowels,  such  as  "  aw  "  and  long 
"  o,"  should  be  practiced  with  the  greatest  possible 
openness  of  the  back  of  the  mouth  and  richness  of 
sympathetic  vibration. 

The  word  "  Om  "  meaning  all,  the  word  for  Deity  in 
anc^en*  Sanscrit,  is  round,  free,  and  open, 


Exercis    7 

Harmony  of'     and  furnishes  a  helpful  exercise  for  harmony 

of  all  the  sympathetic  vibrations.  Can  we 
speak  this  as  the  child  uttered  it,  on  one  sustained 
pitch,  full  of  devotion?  Can  we  realize  something  of 
what  Mr.  Russell  expresses  hi  the  following? 


THE    SHAPE   OF   THE    SOUND   WAVES          35! 

OM-A  MEMORY. 

Faint  grew  the  yellow  buds  of  light 
Far  flickering  beyond  the  snows, 
As  leaning  o'er  the  shadowy  white 
Morn  glimmered  like  a  pale  primrose. 

Within  an  Indian  vale  below 
A  child  said  "  OM  "  with  tender  heart, 
Watching  with  loving  eyes  the  glow 
In  dayshine  fade  and  night  depart. 

The  word  which  Brahma  at  his  dawn 
Outbreathes  and  endeth  at  his  night, 
Whose  tide  of  sound  so  rolling  on 
Gives  birth  to  orbs  of  pearly  light; 

And  beauty,  wisdom,  love,  and  youth, 
By  its  enchantment  gathered  grow 
In  agelong  wandering  to  the  Truth, 
Through  many  a  cycle's  ebb  and  flow. 

And  here  the  voice  of  earth  was  stilled, 

The  child  was  lifted  to  the  Wise : 

A  strange  delight  his  spirit  filled, 

And  Brahm  looked  from  his  shining  eyes. 

George  William  Russell.  ("  A.  E.") 

There  is  no  voice  whose  secondary  vibrations  do  not 
need  attention.  The  most  pleasing  one  is  often  mo- 
notonous and  does  not  vary  with  imagination  and  feel- 
ing. Passages  or  exercises  can  be  found  to  correct  all 
abnormal  conditions.  Young  children  may  sometimes 
be  given  birds'  songs,  the  cooing  of  a  turtle  dove,  or 
some  representative  note  of  the  oriole  or  wood  thrush 
taken  from  some  poem,  to  realize  by  observation  the 
beauty  of  sounds  in  nature.  Poems  can  be  repeated 
with  descriptions  of  the  pine  tree,  the  sighing  of  the 
wind,  giving  forth  the  soft  murmur  of  tone,  such  as  is 
heard  in  the  Southern  pines.  The  rolling  of  the  waves 
upon  the  shore,  falling  water,  the  murmur  of  brooks, 
all  the  delightful  music  of  nature,  can  be  studied  to  ad- 
vantage and  without  too  much  imitation.  If  there  is 


352  MIND   AND   VOICE 

reproduction  it  should  be  imaginative,  sympathetic,  and 
only  suggestive,  and  should  always  be  the  result  of  the 
impression  produced  upon  the  observer  and  the  expres- 
sion of  his  feeling. 

Can  you  idealize  the  voice  in  the  following  poetic 
lines  and  speak  the  word  "  open "  with  imagination 
and  tenderness?  Feel  the  sympathetic  diffusion  through 
the  whole  body,  especially  the  breath  and  tone  passage, 
and  allow  the  greatest  richness  of  vibration  possible. 

A  little  hand  is  knocking  at  my  heart, 

And  I  have  closed  the  door, 
"  I  pray  thee,  for  the  love  of  God,  depart 

Thou  shalt  come  in  no  more." 

"  Open,  for  I  am  weary  of  the  way. 

The  night  is  very  black. 
I  have  been  wandering  many  a  night  and  day. 

Open.     I  have  come  back." 

The  little  hand  is  knocking  patiently. 

I  listen,  dumb  with  pain. 
"  Wilt  thou  not  open  any  more  to  me? 

I  have  come  back  again." 

"  I  will  not  open  any  more.     Depart. 

I,  that  once  lived,  am  dead." 
The  hand  that  had  been  knocking  at  my  heart 

Was  still.     "  And  I?  "  she  said. 

There  is  no  sound,  save,  in  the  winter  air, 

The  sound  of  wind  and  rain, 
All  that  I  loved  in  all  the  world  stands  there, 
^  §  t  And  will  not  knock  again. 
"(The  Return1}'  Arthur  Symons. 


XXVI,     EXPRESSIVE  FUNCTION  OF  THE  SECON- 
DARY VIBRATIONS 

Secondary  vibrations  are  not  directly  voluntary  but 
spontaneous  and  subconscious;  hence,  important  and 
helpful  as  are  the  technical  exercises  suggested,  the 


THE    SHAPE   OF   THE   SOUND   WAVES          353 

chief  reliance  must  be  upon  the  awakening  of  imagina- 
tion and  feeling. 

Voice  mechanism  is  so  closely  connected  with  thought, 
feeling,  and  life  that  it  is  the  least  understood  of  any  part 
of  the  human  body.  No  power  has  been  invented  by 
which  the  voice  can  be  produced  in  a  dead  body  with 
anything  but  a  fearful  perversion  of  it.  Overtones  and 
sympathetic  vibrations  are  difficult  because  they  are 
the  product  not  only  of  the  entire  organism  but  the  whole 
man.  The  permeation  of  mental  and  emotional  action 
through  the  body  hi  a  mysterious  way  attunes  the 
whole  organism  as  the  vibratory  instrument.  The 
accessory  vibrations  of  the  voice,  and  especially  their 
modulation  or  use  in  expression  for  stimulation  and 
harmonious  union,  depend  upon  emotion  more  than 
upon  technical  exercises. 

It  has  been  shown  that  variation  of  the  sound  waves 
in  length  is  the  chief  element  in  vocal  form,  and  reveals 
thought,  degree  of  conviction,  and  earnestness;  that 
the  amplitude  of  the  waves,  or  degrees  of  loudness,  ex- 
presses the  demonstrative  force  of  passion. 

What  then  does  the  shape  of  the  sound  waves  reveal? 
What  do  these  secondary  vibrations  mean?  Since  they 
vary  in  every  individual  are  they  not  something  over 
which  man  has  no  control?  Can  even  the  ablest  actor 
conceal  his  own  voice  unless  he  adopts  a  trick  which 
entirely  degrades  his  art?  The  secondary  vibrations 
constantly  respond  to  the  mind  and  express  imagina- 
tion and  feeling.  This  can  be  proved.  First  accentu- 
ating inflexion,  change  of  pitch,  and  the  elements  of 
form,  render  a  simple  line  and  its  meaning  is  felt  at 
once.  Change  one  of  these  and  the  intellectual  mean- 
ing also  changes.  Then  emphasize  more  the  rhythmic 
pulsation,  as  expressed  in  pause  and  touch  and  de- 
grees of  loudness,  or  intensity;  and  a  different  class 
and  variations  or  other  phases  of  experience  are  ex- 


354  MIND    AND   VOICE 

pressed.  In  the  first  case  the  mind  is  more  active; 
the  man  is  trying  to  make  clear  the  meaning;  in  the 
second  his  passional  earnestness  is  aroused. 

Now  read  the  same  passage  imagining  different  situa- 
tions: first  with  joy;  then  with  sorrow  or  regret;  then 
with  indignation,  mischief,  or  anxiety.  We  may  give  a 
sentence  the  same  form  or  inflexion  and  yet  suggest  a 
variety  of  experiences.  The  resonance,  the  overtones, 
are  varied  whenever  situation  and  emotion  change. 

George  has  gone  to  see  his  father. 

Speak  this  sentence  with  such  elliptical  situations  as 
these:  before  he  dies;  to  get  some  money;  to  receive 
a  reproof;  to  make  confession;  to  plead  for  reconcilia- 
tion; in  prison;  at  his  inaugural;  others  can  easily  be 
imagined. 

The  term  "  tone  color  "  seems  best  adapted  to  ex- 
press this  imaginative  and  emotional  modulation  of  the 
overtones  and  sympathetic  vibrations.  A  man  may 
have  a  voice  naturally  rich  in  overtones,  but  if  he  lack 
imagination,  feeling,  or  true  responsiveness  of  these 
overtones  to  his  emotion,  he  will  speak  monotonously 
and  lack  tone  color.  We  need  such  a  term  to  express 
the  emotional  modulation  or  changes  in  the  number  and 
relation  of  the  harmonics  and  sympathetic  vibrations. 
Accordingly,  distinguish  between  secondary  vibrations 
and  their  development  and  tone  color,  the  modulation 
or  use  of  these  in  expression. 

I.  THE  RELATION  OF  COLOR  TO  FORM. 

The  nature  and  importance  of  tone  color  can  be 
illustrated  by  further  consideration  of  the  relation  of 
color  to  form.  An  abnormal  speaker  with  poor  control 
over  his  emotions  will  express  them  by  changing  his 
inflexions. 

A  tune  is  usually  the  result  of  showing  feeling  through 


THE    SHAPE   OF   THE   SOUND   WAVES  355 

change  of  form  rather  than  through  modulation  of  the 
color  of  the  voice.  The  "  tune  "  is  sometimes  more 
than  a  matter  of  technique.  The  emotion  itself  is  often 
weak;  an  ecstatic  mood  rather  than  genuine  feeling, 
a  sense  of  the  whole  situation  rather  than  of  the  specific 
idea  upon  which  the  mind  is  concentrated  at  the  tune. 
Genuine  emotion  is  always  co-ordinated  with  thinking. 
The  natural  speaker  feels  what  he  thinks,  and  thinks 
what  he  feels. 

Failure  to  co-ordinate  thought  and  feeling  is  directly 
expressed  by  a  lack  of  co-ordination  of  form  which  re- 
veals the  thought,  with  tone  color  which  reveals  the 
feeling.  Failure  to  realize  the  language  of  feeling  is 
the  chief  cause  of  the  degradation  of  emotion.  Genuine 
realization  of  the  idea  upon  which  the  mind  is  focussed 
produces  genuine  emotion,  and  this  is  inseparable  from 
its  true  language.  Weakness  in  feeling  will  pervert 
vocal  expression,  and  wrong  vocal  expression  will 
eventually  cause  weakness  in  feeling.  This  is  an  im- 
portant confirmation  of  the  general  views  advocated  in 
this  book  that  both  vocal  training  and  vocal  expression 
must  be  primarily  improved  through  the  mind. 

Naturalness,  or  the  expression  of  ordinary  ideas, 
depends  chiefly  upon  inflexion,  changes  of  pitch  and 
their  union  in  conversational  form.  A  modulation  of 
inflexion  to  express  feeling  is  abnormal.  The  failure 
to  co-ordinate  thought  and  feeling  by  the  will  is  an 
indication  of  weakness  in  character,  and  a  failure  to 
co-ordinate  inflexion  with  tone  color  is  an  indication  of 
weakness  in  expression.  The  drawing  in  a  painting 
is  distinct  from  the  color.  The  drawing  may  be  made 
in  black  and  white.  A  painting  where  the  color  inter- 
feres with  the  drawing,  or  the  drawing  with  the  color, 
is  not  the  highest  art. 

Drawing  and  color  in  a  painting  are  not  more  distinct 
from  each  other  than  are  form  and  color  in  speaking. 


356  MIND   AND   VOICE 

Form  expresses  the  actions  of  the  intellect,  color  the 
emotions  of  the  heart.  The  differentiation  and  the  co- 
ordination of  these  two  must  ever  form  one  of  the 
fundamental  steps  in  a  development  of  true  vocal  art. 

Anyone  can  take  a  simple  sentence,  such  as  "  He 
fell,"  and  while  the  inflexions  may  be  kept  exactly  the 
same,  the  sentence  may  be  made  to  express  joy  or 
sorrow,  admiration  or  regret  by  variation  of  tone  color. 
The  fall  may  have  been  on  the  ice;  it  may  be  that  of 
some  proud  or  egotistic  person,  at  which  we  may  smile, 
or  one  in  character  and  life  causing  deep  sympathy. 

There  is  a  common  opinion  that  tone  color  is  a  mere 
rhetorical  term,  that  words  are  more  adequate  than 
any  form  of  expression. 

This  is  true  on  the  commonplace  plane  or  as  regards 
presentation  of  mere  concepts;  but  in  the  expression  of 
imaginative  situations  and  feeling  the  color  of  the  voice 
is  far  more  definite.  We  must  not,  however,  compare 
the  various  languages  of  man,  because  words  or  symbols 
express  and  stand  for  ideas,  while  the  inflexions  reveal 
mental  processes,  and  tone  color  the  impressions  made 
by  events  or  ideas  upon  the  imagination  and  emotions. 
Each  discharges  a  distinct  function.  Adequacy  comes 
only  from  their  union ;  no  one  of  them  must  be  neglected. 

The  special  function  of  tone  color  is  the  definition,  so 
to  speak,  of  feeling.  Speakers  would  be  much  embar- 
rassed if  they  could  not  explain  definitely  every  word 
they  used.  If  they  expressed  an  idea  which  they  did 
not  truly  comprehend  they  would  feel  equally  mortified ; 
but  why  should  not  emotions  be  defined  as  well?  Why 
do  men  read  the  twenty-third  Psalm  as  if  it  were  a 
matter  of  great  grief  that  the  Lord  was  their  Shepherd? 
Why  are  statements,  avowedly  and  professedly  full  of 
joy,  given  with  the  coloring  of  sorrow?  It  is  because  no 
attention  has  been  given  to  the  subject  of  tone  color. 
It  is  only  the  right  modulation  of  the  secondary  vibra- 


THE   SHAPE   OF   THE   SOUND   WAVES  357 

tions  of  the  voice  in  response  to  a  definite  imagination 
of  the  situation  that  can  define  feeling. 

We  may  make  inflexions  mechanically.  They  can  be 
brought  directly  under  the  control  of  will,  but  tone 
color  is  less  amenable  to  will.  It  normally  results  from 
diffusion  of  feeling  through  the  muscles  controlling  the 
breath,  if  not  the  whole  body. 

This  corresponds  to  the  difference  between  thinking 
and  feeling.  We  can  control  our  mind,  our  attention,  or 
ideas.  Feeling  is  a  response  to  thinking,  and,  while  we 
may  control,  intensify,  or  suppress  it,  still  it  cannot  be 
created  merely  by  will.  We  can  turn  our  attention  in 
almost  any  direction  and  hold  the  mind  focussed  for 
a  time  on  any  object  or  subject  and  feeling  may  follow. 
The  correspondence  between  vocal  form  and  coloring 
is  close  to  that  between  thinking  and  feeling.  Color 
without  form  is  meaningless,  just  as  feeling  without 
thought  is  crude. 

The  power  to  define  feeling  must  be  developed. 
Many  able  speakers  have  little  command  of  feeling. 
Some  have  no  power  to  change  it,  all  their  speech 
being  neutral.  Why  do  preachers  and  speakers,  who 
must  command  the  feelings  of  the  heart,  use  such  a 
narrow  range  of  emotion?  Primarily,  it  is  due  to  a  lack 
of  command  over  vocal  expression.  Words  are  the 
direct  language  of  ideas,  but  the  modulations  of  the 
voice  express  feeling;  hence,  neglect  or  perversion  of 
vocal  expression  is  always  associated  with  absence  of 
clearly  defined  emotions.  To  speakers  and  dramatic 
artists  the  importance  of  a  careful  study  of  tone  color 
should  not  be  forgotten.  The  present  lack  of  appre- 
ciation of  it  seems  astonishing. 

Work  upon  vocal  training  has  a  special  influence  over 
imagination  and  emotion,  and  if  for  no  other  reason  than 
to  obtain  co-ordination  of  thought  and  feeling,  the  power 
of  the  voice  to  express  one's  higher  nature  should  be 


358  MIND   AND   VOICE 

investigated.  There  is  a  general  lack  of  emotion,  be- 
cause of  the  universal  failure  to  appreciate  or  command 
its  language. 

There  exists  a  tendency,  especially  in  colleges  and 
higher  educational  institutions,  to  repress  all  feeling. 
Some  have  attributed  this  to  the  scientific  spirit,  but 
a  great  deal  of  it  is  due  to  genuine  instinct.  Stu- 
dents realize  that  they  do  not  give  right  expression 
to  feeling  and  that  there  is  something  weak  in  their 
voice  modulations,  and  because  they  lack  the  right 
language  they  are  tempted  to  repress  the  underlying 
feeling.  Emotion  is  feared  because  they  mistakingly 
think  that  it  leads  either  to  whining  or  to  gush.  If 
men  had  as  good  command  over  tone  color,  the  lan- 
guage of  feeling,  as  they  have  over  words  and  inflexions, 
the  language  of  thought,  this  would  not  be  the  case. 
They  would  realize  that  right  expression  of  feeling  is  as 
necessary  to  human  happiness  and  enjoyment  as  is 
true  expression  of  thinking. 

Can  you  render  the  following  passage  first  as 
mere  thought  and  then  with  true  imaginative  and  emo- 
tional realization  of  the  ideas?  What  are  some  of  the 
differences? 

HEIGHTS  AND  DEPTHS. 

He  walked  in  glory  on  the  hills ; 

We  dalesmen  envied  him  afar 
The  heights  and  rose-lit  pinnacles 

Which  placed  him  nigh  the  evening  star. 

Upon  the  peaks  they  found  him  dead; 

And  now  we  wonder  if  he  sighed 
For  our  low  grass  beneath  his  head, 

For  our  rude  huts,  before  he  died. 

William  Canton. 

II.   THE   EDUCATION   OF   FEELING. 

The  psychic  steps  for  the  development  of  the  over- 
tones and  sympathetic  vibrations  of  the  voice  depend 
upon  development  of  imagination  and  right  feeling. 


THE   SHAPE    OF   THE   SOUND   WAVES  359 

The  most  difficult  step  in  education  is  the  training  of 
emotion.  Dr.  Stanley  Hall  has  said  that  "  one  of  the 
important  steps  in  the  education  of  the  future  will  be 
greater  attention  to  feeling."  The  chief  difficulty  has 
been  to  find  some  method  by  which  feeling  could  be 
reached  and  the  peculiar  character  of  the  different  emo- 
tions studied.  What  exercises  can  possibly  be  applied 
to  their  development? 

One  point  to  note  is  that  literature  and  poetry  are  per- 
manent embodiments  of  the  ideas  and  experiences  of 
the  race.  Hence,  their  study  must  always  have  direct 
relationship  to  the  education  of  emotion. 

They  must  be  studied,  however,  in  a  way  to  cause  the 
student  to  assimilate  and  realize  these  in  himself.  He 
must  identify  himself  in  imagination  with  every  situa- 
tion, ideal,  and  aspiration.  The  best  —  almost  the  only 
way  to  do  this  —  is  by  using  the  voice  to  express  their 
spirit.  This  tests  the  degree  of  identification  and 
assimilation,  and  develops  the  feelings  of  the  race  in 
the  individual.  It  demands  the  awakening  and  exer- 
cising of  certain  poetic  and  emotional  or  sympathetic 
instincts  due  to  what  has  been  recognized  and  named 
the  dramatic  instinct.  By  these  the  emotions  can  be 
stimulated  and  refined,  and  they  all  depend  upon  the 
use  of  the  voice  and  its  highest  possibilities. 

However,  not  only  has  there  been  neglect  of  emotion 
in  education,  but  a  corresponding  neglect  of  its  true  ex- 
pression by  the  voice  modulations.  The  two  must  be 
studied  and  developed  together.  It  is,  therefore,  neces- 
sary to  observe  still  more  carefully  the  nature  of  feeling 
and  the  modulations  of  the  voice  which  express  it. 

III.   POSITIVE   AND   NEGATIVE   EMOTIONS   AND   MODES 
OF   EXPRESSION. 

When  we  notice  the  effects  of  emotion  upon  man's 
body  or  its  expression  through  the  modulations  of  tone, 
we  become  aware  of  a  principle  of  fundamental  im- 


3^0  MIND   AND   VOICE 

portance.  All  emotions  may  be  divided  into  positive 
and  negative.  Positive  emotions  have  a  beneficial  effect 
upon  health,  while  negative  ones  are  injurious. 

Joy,  for  example,  causes  expansion,  exhilaration, 
quickens  both  the  respiration  and  the  circulation  and 
stimulates  all  normal  functionings  of  the  body.  De- 
spondency, on  the  contrary,  or  any  indulgence  in  sad- 
ness or  despair,  depresses  all  the  vital  functions.  The 
breathing  is  less  in  amount  and  slower,  the  circula- 
tion more  sluggish.  A  still  deeper  effect  is  produced 
upon  the  metabolism  or  the  chemical  changes  in  the 
cells. 

This  distinction  between  positive  and  negative  feel- 
ings is  important  for  right  living.  Some  scientists  have 
contended  that  negative  emotions  generate  poisons  in 
the  system.  Joy,  love,  and  other  positive  feelings, 
induce  a  normal  chemical  action  or  metabolism  in  the 
cells,  while  anger,  grief,  and  all  negative  emotions  cause 
abnormal  chemical  action.  An  infant  nursed  by  a  mother 
after  a  fit  of  anger  died  from  the  effects.  Many  can 
testify  to  the  feeling  of  exhaustion,  sense  of  bitterness, 
and  other  abnormal  sensations  in  the  vital  organs  after 
a  fit  of  anger. 

Whether  these  pathological  results  follow  or  not,  cer- 
tainly anyone  can  realize  that  all  abnormal  or  negative 
emotions  cause  abnormal  conditions  and  qualities  of 
voice.  Joy  makes  the  tone  purer;  love  makes  it  more 
resonant;  a  sense  of  peace  and  contentment  tends  to 
correct  hardness;  courage,  resolution,  aspiration  directly 
cause  increase  of  support  and  strength. 

With  what  emotion  should  we  begin  the  education  of 
feeling  and  the  voice?  With  that  which  is  most  positive, 
such  as  love  or  joy.  According  to  Darwin,  voice  is  evolved 
from  the  love  principle  in  nature.  Birds  sing  while  build- 
ing their  nests.  The  bobolink  comes  north  and  in  the 
month  of  May  or  June  his  voice  rings  out  most  sweetly, 


THE   SHAPE   OF   THE    SOUND   WAVES          361 

but  as  he  goes  south  he  becomes  a  reed  bird  in  the  neigh- 
borhood of  Philadelphia  and  still  further  south,  as  the 
rice  bird  becomes  the  fat  destroyer  of  the  rice  fields. 
Who  can  recognize  the  bobolink  with  his  melodious  song 
over  the  nest  of  his  mate  in  the  New  England  meadow, 
when  found  in  the  south  as  the  rice  bird  with  his  beauti- 
ful voice  entirely  silent? 

Love  lyrics  should  be  practiced  long  and  faithfully. 
Love  should  not  be  considered  sentimental.  If  neces- 
sary use  love  of  nature,  of  home,  of  country,  of  father 
and  mother;  but  some  positive  sense  of  tenderness  is 
necessary  to  stimulate  the  higher  co-ordinations  and 
conditions  of  voice. 

Joy  is  also  positive.  It  causes  expansion,  stimulates 
breathing,  and  establishes  co-ordinate  conditions  for 
primary  vibration  as  love  does  those  for  secondary 
vibration.  These,  accordingly,  should  be  united  in  prac- 
tice as  much  as  possible. 

Many  have  greatly  improved  the  voice  by  constant 
recitation  of  the  finest  lyrics  of  the  language.  These 
express  primary  positive  emotions.  Reciting  the  best 
passages  as  an  exercise  for  imagination  and  feeling 
has  been  commended  by  the  best  teachers  who  have 
understood  the  true  secret  of  culture.  Such  practice 
has  a  double  effect,  developing  not  only  the  artistic 
nature  but  its  language,  the  overtones  and  sympathetic 
vibrations  of  the  voice.  The  real  place  for  developing 
emotion  is  in  connection  with  the  voice.  .Emotion  must 
be  expressed  before  we  can  realize  it,  and  hi  the  act  of 
expression  we  can  judge  of  its  rank.  We  thus  stimulate 
and  awaken  the  higher  forms  of  feeling,  and  above  all, 
co-ordinate  thinking,  feeling,  and  willing. 

It  is  important,  however,  that  the  voice  be  rightly 
used.  If  true  vocal  expression  has  this  power  to  develop 
noble  feelings,  perverted  vocal  expression  has  equal 
power  to  degrade  the  emotions.  Accordingly,  we  must 


32  MIND   AND   VOICE 

distinguish  not  only  between  positive  and  negative 
emotions  but  between  true  and  false  modes  of  expression. 
Nowhere  do  we  realize  the  lack  of  true  vocal  expres- 
sion so  much  as  in  a  study  of  the  expressive  use  of  the 
secondary  vibrations.  Speakers  have  been  taught  to 
emphasize  by  greater  "  stress  of  voice."  This  exag- 
gerated increase  in  the  amplitude  of  the  sound  waves 
eliminates,  as  has  been  shown,  all  possibility  of  modula- 
ting the  overtones  or  secondary  vibrations.  At  one  stroke 
such  a  method  eliminates  from  the  voice  all  higher 
tenderness,  gradations  of  love  and  joy,  and  deeper  im- 
pressions of  the  imagination.  English  elocution  for  the 
past  hundred  years  has  authorized  the  use  of  throati- 
ness,  hardness,  nasality,  and  other  faults  in  expression. 
Tone  color  is  totally  foreign  to  such  elocutionary  ma- 
nipulation. It  is  the  modulation  by  feeling  of  pure  tone. 
Such  faults  entirely  pervert  the  secondary  vibrations 
and  prevent  their  modulation  by  thinking  and  feeling. 
Elocution  has  even  taught  the  expression  of  awe  and 
sublimity  by  aspirating  tone.  This  is  a  kind  of  breathy 
manipulation.  It  also  eliminates  the  harmonious  union 
of  overtones  and  other  accessory  vibrations  and  per- 
verts the  emotion  expressing  sublimity  by  secrecy. 
Where  secrecy  seems  to  be  called  for  in  literature  the 
emotion  is  really  awe  or  anxiety.  When  the  word 
"  whisper "  occurs  the  elocutionist  is  apt  to  make  it 
literal.  It  is  not  taken  in  its  poetic  or  imaginative  sense. 
Thus,  in  Byron's  "  Childe  Harold  "  describing  the  ex- 
citement at  the  opening  of  the  Battle  of  Waterloo, 

"  While  thronged  the  citizens  with  terror  dumb, 
Or  whispering  with  white  lips,  *  The  foe!  they  come,  they  come! '  " 

If  the  reader  takes  the  word  "  whispering  "  literally  in 
repeating  the  words  of  the  citizens  he  will  pervert  the 
spirit  of  the  poem,  —  suggesting  secrecy  instead  of 
anxiety.  Words  are  inadequate  to  express  voice  modu- 


THE   SHAPE   OF   THE   SOUND    WAVES          363 

lations.  By  "  whisper  "  in  such  a  passage  is  meant  a 
subdued  tone,  with  intense  vibrations  revealing  deep 
feeling  and  sense  of  danger.  A  literal  whisper  would 
eliminate  all  possibility  of  expressing  the  feeling  or 
spirit  of  the  action,  for  a  whisper  cannot  be  colored.  This 
word  is  nothing  more  than  a  suggestion.  The  reader 
must  vividly  conceive  the  situation  and  enter  into  dra- 
matic sympathy  with  the  citizens  whose  homes  are  sud- 
denly invaded  by  war,  whose  farms  are  turned  into  a 
battlefield,  and  who  tremble  for  the  lives  of  their  loved 
ones.  Only  by  modulation  of  its  secondary  vibrations 
can  the  spirit  of  such  a  passage  be  interpreted  by  the 
voice. 

Secrecy  is  apt  to  be  regarded  as  an  exception  and  ex- 
pressed by  waste  of  breath.  .In  such  a  case  it  becomes 
abnormal.  When  expressed  as  a  real  feeling  it  must  be 
suggested  by  great  retention  of  the  breath  and  intense 
vibration.  Emotion  can  only  be  suggested,  no  idea  or 
feeling  can  be  given ;  it  can  only  be  hinted,  and  the  higher 
its  character  the  more  is  this  true. 

This  is  only  an  illustration.  Any  number  far  more 
forcible  could  be  chosen  to  show  violations  of  the  artistic 
and  poetic  uses  of  the  voice. 

It  is  well  known  that  a  right  mode  of  expression  has  a 
reflex  influence  upon  thinking  and  feeling.  Genuine 
vocal  art  will  lead  to  higher  and  more  genuine  emotion. 
In  the  same  way,  a  wrong  mode  of  vocal  expression  has 
a  deleterious  effect  upon  the  emotions  it  is  supposed  to 
express.  Not  only  this,  low  art,  as  is  well  known,  con- 
nects itself  with  the  lower  forms  of  literature  and  dis- 
connects itself  from  the  highest  poetry. 

On  account  of  the  universal  neglect  of  tone  color  this 
important  point  may  not  be  understood.  The  student 
must  look  into  it  and  find  that  whatever  interferes  with 
the  sympathetic  modulation  of  the  color  of  his  voice  will 
interfere  with  feeling.  Whenever  a  degraded  method 


364  MIND   AND   VOICE 

is  used  for  the  expression  of  feeling  the  feeling  itself  will 
be  degraded.  On  the  contrary,  by  working  upon  normal 
emotions  and  endeavoring  to  interpret  them  simply  and 
naturally  the  voice  will  be  improved  and  the  language 
of  tone  color  begin  to  appear. 

Tone  color  is  no  doubt  the  highest  expressive  modula- 
tion of  the  voice.  It  indicates  exalted  ideals,  imagina- 
tion, and  tenderness,  whether  in  speech  or  song,  and 
gives  one  of  the  highest  pleasures  found  in  art. 

Many  emotions  which  appear  to  be  negative  may  be 
given  positive  qualities.  For  example,  sorrow  has  a 
despairing  element  which  makes  our  expression  weak 
and  negative,  but  sorrow  may  be  accented  as  something 
to  be  endured  or  controlled.  If  one  shows  entire  con- 
trol of  breath,  intensity,  and  right  sympathetic  modula- 
tions of  the  whole  body,  expressing  greater  manliness, 
heroic  endurance,  greater  courage,  then  the  positive 
element  is  expressed. 

No  emotion,  not  even  an  abnormal  one,  can  be  fittingly 
expressed  except  through  some  modulation  of  these 
secondary  vibrations.  Even  anger  must  be  elevated 
into  indignation  and  expressed  by  the  modulation  of  pure 
tone.  The  lack  of  dignity  in  anger  is  suggested  by 
jerky  rhythm  and  movement.  The  quality  of  the  voice 
must  remain  as  normal  as  possible,  otherwise  it  is  in- 
capable of  variation  to  express  mental  and  emotional 
attitudes  or  to  bring  emotions  into  contrast.  Whenever 
abnormal  qualities  of  voice  are  substituted  for  color  we 
always  find  a  low  condition  of  vocal  art. 

Only  normal  and  pure  tone  is  susceptible  to  modula- 
tion by  imagination  and  the  higher  emotions.  Such 
faults  as  nasality  and  throatiness  eliminate  all  possibili- 
ties of  tone  color.  A  throaty  voice  can  express  only  one 
line  of  feeling,  such  as  anger.  A  flat,  hard  tone  is  in  its 
very  nature  the  elimination  of  all  overtones.  A  faulty 
voice  is  always  one-sided ;  only  a  low  aspect  or  phase  of 


THE   SHAPE   OF  THE   SOUND   WAVES          365 

human  experience  can  be  expressed.  Only  a  voice 
whence  faults  have  been  eliminated  by  careful  training, 
one  in  which  positive  qualities  have  been  developed, 
can  manifest  the  higher  emotions. 

IV.    GAMUT   OF   EMOTION. 

The  subject  of  tone  color  really  belongs  to  vocal 
expression  rather  than  to  vocal  training,  but  it  is  so 
universally  neglected  that  its  bearing  upon  the  develop- 
ment of  secondary  vibrations  has  been  discussed.  It 
has  also  another  phase  which  needs  attention.  The 
absence  of  any  realization  of  the  true  expression  of  feel- 
ing is  more  or  less  responsible  for  the  narrow  gamut  of 
emotion  in  many  of  our  ablest  speakers. 

Every  speaker,  reader,  actor,  or  human  being,  should 
endeavor  to  realize  and  define  definitely  a  number  of 
emotions.  A  scholarly  man  would  be  greatly  embar- 
rassed if  he  could  not  define  definitely  a  certain  thought 
and  express  it  in  words.  Why  should  we  not  feel  equally 
our  shortcomings  as  human  beings  if  we  are  unable  to 
define  instantly  by  the  modulations  of  our  voice  the  deep- 
est feelings  of  the  heart? 

Some  think  that  men  have  only  a  few  emotions,  and 
divide  these  into  pleasure  and  pain,  love  and  hate,  and 
a  few  others.  The  best  answer  to  such  narrow-minded 
conceptions  of  the  varieties  of  human  feelings  is  a  study 
of  this  very  subject  of  the  emotional  modulations  of 
the  secondary  vibrations.  I  once  had  an  able  student 
to  whom  I  gave  the  problem  to  define  with  her  voice 
twenty  different  emotions.  She  said  she  did  not  believe 
there  were  so  many.  I  told  her  to  try  it.  She  became 
interested,  and  brought  in  as  many  as  twenty  varieties 
of  love. 

One  who  has  never  studied  or  tried  to  develop  tone 
color  is  hardly  aware,  as  this  cultivated  lady  was  not, 
of  the  great  varieties  of  human  feeling.  Words  can  but 


366  MIND   AND   VOICE 

imperfectly  name  emotions.  It  takes  the  color  of  the 
voice  to  define  them.  The  student  will  frequently  find 
great  difficulty  in  giving  an  adequate  name  to  the  feeling 
expressed  by  a  certain  line. 

To  realize  the  real  nature  and  function  of  secondary 

vibrations,  to  stimulate  and  develop  them, 

voice  and  '     and  to  learn  their  use,  let  us  take  either 

Feeling. 

single  words,  phrases,  lines,  or  short  pas- 
sages and  endeavor  to  answer  a  few  questions  in  a  study 
of  their  true  spirit  and  an  earnest  endeavor  to  interpret 
the  emotions  they  embody. 

Can  you  take  the  single  word  "  come  "  from  a  great 
variety  of  passages,  or  with  many  different  situations? 
"  Oh  "  or  any  word  or  phrase  will  of  course  serve  as 
well.  Or  can  you  give  the  word  "  home  "  from  the  fol- 
lowing, accentuating  the  difference  hi  feeling  each  time 
the  word  occurs? 

HOME. 

Ask'd  I  the  weary  wanderer,  "  Whence  comest  thou?  "  "llome, 
Home,  from  Home."  He  sigh'd,  with  sadden'd  brow. 

Ask'd  I  then  the  peasant  boy,  "  Whither  thy  way?  "  "  Home, 
Home,  my  Homel  "  He  cried  in  accents  gay. 

Ask'd  I  next  a  smiling  one,  "  Where  dwells  delight?  "  "  Home, 
Home,  at  Home !  "  Said  he,  with  glances  bright. 

Ask'st  thou  me  why  oft  I  sigh?  Why  restless  roam?  —  Home, 
Home,  no  Home,  I  have  no  more  a  Home. 

From  the  German.  Wot  known. 

What  is  the  difference  between  the  two  following 
sentences?  How  does  the  voice  express  this  difference? 

In  a  valiant  suffering  for  others,  not  in  a  slothful  making  of  others 
suffer  for  us,  did  nobleness  ever  lie.  ...  Every  noble  crown  is, 

and  on  Earth  will  ever  be,  a  crown  of  thorns. 

Carlyle. 

Can  you  define  definitely  the  feelings  found  in  each 
of  the  following  lines?  What  modifications  does  their 
true  expression  cause  in  the  voice? 


THE    SHAPE   OF   THE    SOUND   WAVES  367 

All  art  consists  in  the  removal  of  surplusage. 

Walter  Pater. 

"  Creation's  heir,  the  world,  the  world  is  mine !  " 

Come,  and  trip  it  as  you  go,  on  the  light  fantastic  toe. 
"L' Allegro"  John  Milton. 

Joy  is  the  grace  we  say  to  God. 

Jean  Ingelow. 

No  great  deed  is  done  by  falterers  who  ask  for  certainty. 
'  '.The  Spanish  Gypsy ' '  George  Eliot. 

Blow  on !    This  is  the  land  of  Liberty ! 

Knowles. 

Holy!  holy!  holy!  Lord  God  of  Sabaoth! 

"Man  is  man,  and  master  of  his  fate." 
"  Gereint "  Tennyson. 

Sound,    sound    the    horn! 
' '  Hunter's  Song ' '  Barry  Cornwall. 

'T  is  man's  perdition  to  be  safe,  when  for  the  truth  he  ought  to  die. 

Emerson. 

"In   His   will   is   our   peace." 

Dante. 

Many  can  best  begin  by  defining  carefully  with  the 
voice  some  marked  contrast,  such  as  that  between  joy 
and  sorrow,  or  between  gayety  and  seriousness.  As 
soon,  however,  as  they  have  defined  a  few  that  are  in 
great  contrast,  they  should  proceed  to  build  up  and 
record  definitely  poetic  lines,  or  better  short  passages, 
expressive  of  a  great  variety  of  emotions.  Each  should 
select  his  own  lines,  as  he  will  thus  take  them  from 
poems  which  he  especially  likes  and  he  can  feel  them 
more  intensely. 

An  important  step  in  the  mastery  of  tone  color  is  to 
render  sudden  transitions  from  different  passages  of 
literature  and  note  carefully  the  nature  of  the  change  in 


MIND   AND   VOICE 

feeling  and  the  various  changes  of  the  voice  necessary 
to  express  these.  He  will  observe  that  change  of  pitch, 
movement,  degree  of  intensity,  and  especially  changes 
in  tone  color  are  necessary  to  express  such  variations 
by  the  voice.  These  need  long,  persevering  practice. 
Take  specific  lines  where  the  transition  occurs  and  re- 
peat a  hundred  times,  or  till  the  mental  action  and  the 
response  are  mastered. 

There  groups  of  merry  children  played; 
There  youths  and  maidens  dreaming  strayed. 
Oh,  precious  hours !  oh,  golden  prime 
And  affluence  of  love  and  time ! 
Even  as  a  miser  counts  his  gold, 
Those  hours  the  ancient  timepiece  told,  — 
"  Forever  —  never! 
Never  —  forever!  " 
"  Old  Clock  on  the  Stair  "  Longfellow. 

The  skipper  he  stood  beside  the  helm,  his  pipe  was  in  his  mouth, 
And  he  watch'd  how  the  veering  flaw  did  blow  the  smoke  now  west, 

now  south. 

Then  up  and  spake  an  old  sailor,  —  had  sail'd  the  Spanish  main,  — 
"  I  pray  thee,  put  into  yonder  port,  for  I  fear  a  hurricane. 

"  Last  night  the  Moon  had  a  golden  ring,  and  to-night  no  Moon 

we  see!  " 
The  skipper,  he  blew  a  whiff  from  his  pipe,  and  a  scornful  laugh 

laugh'd  he. 

Colder  and  louder  blew  the  wind,  a  gale  from  the  north-east; 
The  snow  fell  hissing  in  the  brine,  and  the  billows  froth'd  like  yeast. 

Down  came  the  storm,  and  smote  amain  the  vessel  in  its  strength ; 
She  shudder'd  and  paused,  like  a  frighten'd  steed,  then  leap'd  her 

cable's  length. 
"  Come  hither !  come  hither !  my  little  daughter,  and  do  not  tremble 

so 
For  I  can  weather  the  roughest  gale,  that  ever  wind  did  blow." 

He  wrapp'd  her  warm  in  his  seaman's  coat  against  the  stinging 

blast; 

He  cut  a  rope  from  a  broken  spar,  and  bound  her  to  the  mast. 
"  O  father!  I  hear  the  church-bells  ring,  O  say,  what  may  it  be?  " 
"  'T  is  a  fog-bell  on  a  rock-bound  coast!  "  and  he  steer'd  for  the 

open  sea. 


THE    SHAPE   OF   THE    SOUND   WAVES          369 

"  O  father!  I  hear  the  sound  of  guns,  O  say,  what  may  it  be?  " 
"  Some  ship  in  distress,  that  cannot  live  in  such  an  angry  sea!  " 
"  O  father!  I  see  a  gleaming  light,  O  say,  what  may  it  be?  " 
But  the  father  answer'd  never  a  word,  a  frozen  corpse  was  he. 
"  Wreck  of  The  Hesperus  "  Longfellow. 

Sometimes,  as  in  the  second  of  the  following  sonnets, 
a  sudden  transition  is  called  for  as  an  essential  part 
of  the  poem.  Here  in  one  instant  the  speaker  ex- 
presses anxiety  which  is  suddenly  changed  to  determi- 
nation and  resolution  to  escape.  The  poet  indicates  this 
by  brackets.  Such  a  transition  is  perfectly  natural,  as 
anyone  can  realize  by  observing  those  made  in  life 
from  meditative  realization  to  an  objective  endeavor. 
Note  also  the  strong  contrast  between  the  two  poems. 

TWO  SONNET-SONGS. 
I.    The  Sirens  sing 

Hist,  hist,  ye  winds,  ye  whispering  wavelets  hist, 
Their  toil  is  done,  their  teen  and  trouble  are  o'er, 
Wash  them,  ye  waves,  in  silence  to  the  shore, 
Waft  them,  ye  winds,  with  voices  hushed  and  whist. 
Hist,  waves  and  winds,  here  shall  their  eyes  be  kist 
By  love,  and  sweet  love-slumber,  till  the  roar 
Of  forepast  storms,  now  stilled,  for  evermore, 
Die  on  their  dream-horizons  like  dim  mist. 
What  of  renown,  ye  winds,  when  storms  are  done? 
A  faded  foam-flower  on  a  wearying  wave. 
All  toil  is  but  the  digging  of  a  grave. 
Here  let  them  rest  awhile  ere  set  the  sun, 
And  sip  the  honey'd  moments  one  by  one  — 
So  fleet,  so  sweet,  so  few  to  squander  or  save. 

n.    Orpheus  and  the  Mariners  make  answer 

Fleet,  fleet  and  few,  ay,  fleet  the  moments  fly  — 
(Lash  to  light  live  foam,  ye  oars,  the  dreaming  seas), 
And  shall  we  lie  in  swine-sloth  here  at  ease  — 
(Dip,  dip,  ye  oars,  and  dash  the  dark  seas  by), 
In  swine-sloth  here  while  death  is  stealing  nigh  — 
(Sweep,  oars,  sweep,  here  ripples  and  sparkles  the  breeze), 
And  work  is  ours  to  drain  to  the  last  lees? 
(Drive  oars  and  winds,  we  will  dare  and  do  ere  we  die). 


37°  MIND   AND   VOICE 

And  if  no  sound  of  voice  nor  any  call 
Break  the  death-silence  bidding  us  all  hail, 
And,  even  among  the  living,  Fame  should  fail 
To  shrill  our  deeds,  yet  whatsoe'er  befall, 
As  men  who  fought  for  good  not  guerdon  at  all, 
Peal  the  glad  Paean  I     (Steady  oars  and  sail.) 

Frank  E.  Marzials. 

In  the  reading  of  the  Psalms  we  meet  what  are  known 
as  parallelisms.  The  universal  tendency  is  to  discuss 
and  to  name  these  —  as  Dr.  Driver  has  done  —  from  an 
intellectual  point  of  view,  but  the  greatest  of  these 
changes,  and  the  only  universal  one,  is  that  of  feeling. 
Work  upon  this  primary  rhythm  of  ideas  and  experience 
is  very  helpful  in  mastering  tone  color. 

Why  should  modulation  of  the  shape  of  the  sound 
wave  by  imagination  and  feeling  be  so  commonly  neg- 
lected? It  is  one  of  the  three  fundamental  modulations 
of  the  voice.  Whatever  eliminates  this  possibility  will, 
just  to  that  degree,  limit  expression,  and  expression  of 
the  highest  form. 

A  human  being  thinks  and  feels  at  the  same  time. 
While  his  thinking  must  be  revealed  by  the  form,  his 
emotion  must  be  shown  by  the  color  of  his  voice.  When- 
ever either  of  these  elements  is  rendered  impossible  by 
some  vicious  method  of  tone  production,  then  artistic 
and  ideal  expression  is  eliminated. 

All  vocal  expression  is  founded  upon  the  fact  that  the 
voice  shall  be  free  to  change  the  length  of  its  sound  waves 
-  that  is,  to  make  inflexions  or  to  change  the  pitch  in 
direct  response  to  processes  of  thinking.  Secondly,  to 
express  different  degrees  of  force  and  of  control  over 
it  by  volume  and  intensity.  Thirdly,  to  take  different 
shapes,  or  to  modulate  all  accessory  vibrations  in  direct 
response  to  imagination  and  feeling. 

A  voice  is  normal  only  when  it  has  these  primary  pos- 
sibilities, and  anything  that  interferes  with  them  de- 
stroys the  foundations  of  vocal  expression. 


THE   SHAPE   OF   THE    SOUND   WAVES  371 


XXVII.     TEXTURE 

Men  are  very  slow  to  notice  the  elements  of  expres- 
sion in  the  voice. 

Of  all  modulations,  however,  the  one  least  easily  rec- 
ognized is  that  which  is  here  named  texture. 

Some  will  feel  that  texture  is  another  name  for  tone 
color,  or  a  different  degree  in  tone  color.  Certainly  in 
the  science  of  sound  we  have  no  means  of  distinguish- 
ing between  tone  color  and  texture. 

There  are,  however,  many  differences  which  have 
never  been  scientifically  discriminated.  What,  for 
example,  are  the  differences  between  the  modulations 
of  the  sound  waves  for  the  different  vowels  and  that  for 
emotion?  The  fact  that  the  difference  of  the  overtones 
makes  different  vowels  has  been  discovered,  and  even 
the  harmonics  causing  the  leading  vowels  have  been 
named,  so  that  they  have  been  reproduced  artificially. 
The  difference  between  one  musical  instrument  and 
another  in  the  number  of  their  overtones  has  been  dis- 
covered and  recorded,  but  no  one  has  yet  found  the 
exact  differences  between  the  modulations  of  the  over- 
tones by  two  different  emotions.  How  can  we  express 
any  emotion  with  any  vowel  and  not  interfere  with  its 
character?  How  can  such  changes  in  the  shape  of 
the  sound  wave  exist  together  without  causing  inter- 
ferences. 

That  we  have  no  scientific  method  of  discriminating 
the  difference  between  tone  color  and  texture  must  not 
deter  us  from  recognizing  facts.  Truth  and  a  true  scien- 
tific method  require  us  to  recognize  facts  rather  than  our 
own  explanations.  A  fact  which  we  know  to  be  present, 
though  we  cannot  explain  it,  demands  our  careful 
attention. 


372  MIND  AND  VOICE 

I.  TEXTURE  AND  CHARACTER. 

That  tone  color  and  texture  do  not  mean  the  same 
thing  is  shown  by  the  fact  that  when  interpreting  a 
character  like  Shylock  an  able  artist  expresses  by  the 
change  in  color  of  his  voice  all  the  diff erent  emotions 
felt  by  the  Jew.  There  is  in  addition  an  underlying  con- 
dition of  voice,  not  the  result  of  manipulation  or  imita- 
tion, which  shows  that  the  character  is  Shylock.  The 
human  voice  is  a  marvelous  instrument.  It  can  show 
definitely  the  conception  of  some  specific  personality, 
and  at  the  same  tune  reveal  the  thinking  and  manifest 
the  feeling  of  such  an  individual. 

As  silk,  wool,  and  cotton  may  be  dyed  exactly  the  same 
shade,  and  yet  exhibit  differences  in  their  textures,  so 
the  human  voice  seems  to  have  the  power  of  suggesting 
something  beyond  the  emotion  which  is  expressed  by 
tone  color.  It  can  express  not  only  love  and  joy  but  also 
the  disposition  and  character  behind  the  feeling.  Hence 
"  texture  "  seems  to  be  the  best  term  to  name  this  con- 
dition underlying  and  not  displacing  tone  color.  The  two 
are  intimately  related,  but  one  seems  distinct  from  the 
other.  As  secondary  vibrations  may  indicate  at  the 
same  instant  the  difference  between  voices,  vowels,  and 
feelings  we  discover  another,  the  power  also  to  suggest 
without  disturbing  its  other  functions,  the  disposition  of 
characters. 

Texture  is  certainly  deeper  than  tone  color.  A 
speaker  or  reader  or  actor  may  have  great  variations 
of  tone  color  and  none  whatever  of  texture.  One 
expresses  emotion,  the  other  dramatic  imagination. 
Texture  is  always  accompanied  by  a  change  in  the 
muscular  conditions  of  the  body.  Change  in  the 
texture  of  the  muscles  precedes  and  seems  to  cause 
change  in  the  texture  of  voice.  In  general,  tone  color 
is  simpler  and  more  emotional,  or  at  least  more 


THE    SHAPE    OF   THE   SOUND    WAVES          373 

common,  texture  manifests  a  different  class  of  re- 
alizations. 

There  seems  practically  no  limit  to  the  variations  of 
the  form  of  a  sound  wave.  Accordingly,  it  is  perfectly 
conceivable  that  in  some  way,  not  yet  explained,  the 
conditions  of  the  muscles  and  parts  of  the  body  modu- 
lated in  response  to  the  imaginative  and  sympathetic 
realization  of  a  character  may  also  cause  a  correspond- 
ing modification  of  the  sympathetic  vibrations  and 
overtones,  and  thus  suggest  the  same  mental  actions 
in  the  voice. 

Some  may  think  that  texture  is  simply  a  matter  of 
physical  weakness.  For  example,  hi  "  As  You  Like  It," 
old  Adam  should  have  a  voice  indicative  of  the  feebleness 
of  age,  the  texture  of  Orlando's  voice  will  be  firm  with 
the  strength  of  youth,  while  age  causes  the  difference 
between  the  nurse  and  patient,  Shylock  and  Bassanio. 
But  there  is  something,  or  how  can  a  true  vocal  artist 
show  the  difference  between  two  old  men  such  as 
Dogberry  and  Verges  or  two  young  men  such  as  Mer- 
cutio  and  Romeo? 

Adam.  Dear  Master,  I  can  go  no  further:  Oldie  for  food.  Here 
lie  I  down,  and  measure  out  my  grave.  Farewell,  kind  master. 

Orlando.  Why  how  now  Adam?  No  greater  heart  in  thee: 
Live  a  little,  comfort  a  little,  cheer  thyself  a  little. 

It  is  a  remarkable  fact  that  a  true  vocal  artist  does 
not  go  so  far  in  revealing  such  characters  as  to  obliterate 
the  peculiarities  of  his  own  voice. 

Here  we  have  evidence  of  the  marvelous  power  of 
the  voice.  It  can  manifest  commonplace  experiences  of 
life,  the  poetic  idealization,  and  the  highest  spiritual 
realization.  It  can  also  express  sympathetic  identifica- 
tions of  one  human  being  with  another  or  all  degrees  of 
dramatic  instinct.  That  the  voice  is  capable  of  render- 
ing all  these  can  be  demonstrated,  realized,  and  ex- 


374  MIND   AND   VOICE 

pressed  in  his  own  voice,  by  anyone   who  will  per- 
severe. 

Now,  how  does  the  voice  reveal  such  extreme  differ- 
ences? Can  we  find  a  hint  to  solve  the  mystery?  We 
know  that  the  voice  in  animal  passion  causes  the  whole 
vocal  band  and  the  muscles  adjacent  to  be  massed 
in  a  larger  thicker  "  chord,"  while  the  poetic  or  imagina- 
tive plane  uses  more  the  mere  edge  of  the  band.  In 
the  last  modulation,  or  the  expression  of  spiritual  emo- 
tion or  sense  of  the  sublime,  the  sympathetic  vibrations 
of  the  membranes  of  every  chamber  in  the  body  are 
more  pronounced.  We  find  also  something  beyond. 

II.   TONE   AND   THE   BODY. 

Vibration  of  tone  is  vitally  related  to  the  diffusion  of 
emotion  through  the  body.  Texture  especially  seems 
an  indirect  response  of  the  muscles  to  dramatic  instinct. 
The  whole  myological  mechanism  seems  to  be  hard  or 
soft  according  to  the  experiences  or  dispositions  of  the 
character.  It  may  be  possible  that  tone  color  is  more 
nearly  the  result  of  diffusion  of  feeling  through  the  vocal 
organism,  causing  co-ordinations  and  many  conditions  of 
the  diaphragm  and  vibratory  agencies  with  the  larynx 
for  primary,  and  the  pharynx  for  secondary  and  sym- 
pathetic vibrations,  on  the  one  hand.  On  the  other 
hand,  texture  may  be  the  result  of  deeper  feelings  or 
realizations  which  so  dominate  the  body  as  to  bring 
into  co-ordination  such  actions  of  all  the  parts  as  to 
establish  what  may  be  called  pantomimic  conditions  of 
tone.  Tone  color  is  that  degree  of  feeling  affecting 
the  diaphragm  and  co-ordinating  direct  voice  conditions 
in  the  vocal  mechanism.  Texture  may  be  a  deeper 
experience  resulting  from  fuller  imaginative  and  pas- 
sional realization,  causing  a  further  co-ordination  of  all 
parts  of  the  body  and  bringing  them  into  a  greater 
unity  for  vibration.  Tone  color  and  texture  seem 


THE   SHAPE   OF   THE   SOUND   WAVES  375 

united  but  this  may  be  because  they  are  simultaneous 
and  all  modulations  of  the  voice  are  simultaneous  and 
must  be  distinguished.  A  little  observation  seems  to 
confirm  this  suggestion;  certainly  texture  is  more  ul- 
timately related  to  the  modulations  of  the  body  than  is 
tone  color. 

The  distinction  between  tone  color  and  texture  is 
analogous  to  the  difference  between  attitude  and 
bearing.  An  inflexion  is  practically  a  gesture  of  the 
voice.  Attitudes  of  the  body  are  always  associated 
with  tone  color.  When  there  are  no  variations  or  con- 
trol of  attitudes  there  is  no  control  over  tone  color. 
Similarly,  texture  seems  to  have  direct  relationship 
with  bearing.  When  the  bearings  of  a  character  re- 
spond to  the  imagination,  or  when  the  dramatic  instinct 
is  so  active  as  to  cause  sympathetic  identification  with 
a  character  or  situation  and  the  body  is  so  normal  and 
flexible  as  to  respond,  then  the  conditions  of  the  body  are 
modulated  thus  producing  involuntarily  texture  of  voice. 

On  account  of  the  universal  misconceptions  and 
skepticisms  regarding  the  relations  of  the  body  with 
the  voice,  it  may  be  well  to  touch  upon  the  subject  more 
definitely  and  to  adopt  such  expedients  as  will  enable 
the  student  to  realize  their  intimate  connexion. 

If  anyone  will  render  the  two  first  of  the  following 
passages,  giving  each  its  specific  spirit,  he  will  discover 
that  the  actions  and  conditions  of  the  body  cause  certain 
corresponding  conditions,  qualities,  or  textures  of  the 
voice. 

"Hence,  home!    You  idle  creatures;  get  you  home!" 
"  Julius  Caesar  "  Shakespeare. 

"  When  a  man  lives  with  God,  his  voice  shall  be  as  sweet  as  the 

murmur  of  the  brook  and  the  rustle  of  the  corn." 

Emerson. 

Send  us  your  prisoner,  or  you'll  hear  of  it. 
"  Henry  IV  "  Shakespeare. 


376  MIND   AND   VOICE 

Here  are  also  two  indignant,  authoritative  dismissals, 
one  by  a  Roman  Tribune  and  the  other  by  a  king. 
What  are  the  differences  between  them?  Are  these 
differences  due  to  the  fact  that  the  Roman  has  more 
petty  jealousy,  the  English  king  more  patriotism  and 
determination  to  make  his  kingdom  a  real  unity?  Is 
this  difference  one  of  mere  feeling,  or  is  it  in  motive 
and  character?  A  true  artist  will  give  all  of  these.  It 
may  be  difficult  to  define,  but  the  differences  should 
be  such  that  a  listener  can  easily  detect  them. 

Greater  differences  than  these  can,  of  course,  be  found 
in  the  same  character;  for  example,  note  the  two  fol- 
lowing from  Hamlet: 

Hamlet.     Rest,  rest  perturbed  spirit. 
Hamlet.    By  heaven  I  '11  make  a  ghost  of  him  that  lets  me. 

The  difference  here  is  due  to  feeling.  A  direct  ex- 
perience which  always  has  a  more  important  effect 
upon  tone,  but  in  the  other  case,  when  the  emotions 
are  similar  and  the  character  is  different,  there  is  a 
different  kind  of  modulation.  The  difference  is  far 
more  subtle,  but  it  is  not  the  same  in  kind.  To  classify 
the  different  kinds  of  vibrations,  if  it  is  possible  to 
do  so,  will  lp  a  great  help  in  understanding  the 
difficulties. 

There  are  many  other  illustrations  of  the  relations 
of  the  body  to  tone.  Centrality  of  breathing  can  hardly 
be  established  without  developing  centrality  or  the  true 
poise  of  the  body.  When  a  man  stands,  with  the 
body  not  poised  but  seemingly  hung  from  the  hip,  the 
nerves  which  pass  from  the  solar  plexus  to  the  respira- 
tory mechanism  will  be  constricted  and  very  soon  he 
will  be  seen  to  change  his  position.  .Constricting  the 
other  side  in  the  same  way,  he  changes  again;  hence 
the  uneasiness  in  his  action.  The  nerves  controlling  the 


THE   SHAPE   OF   THE   SOUND   WAVES          377 

diaphragm  are  constricted  and  there  is  a  corresponding 
irregularity  in  breathing,  if  he  is  not  forced  to  breathe 
at  the  summit  of  his  chest. 

Either  in  speech  or  song  it  is  the  attitude  which  has 
the  greatest  influence  over  voice.  Attitudes  express 
conditions,  and  these  conditions  of  being  are  also  con- 
ditions of  tone.  The  power  to  stay  the  attitude  in 
speech  or  song  implies  diffusion  of  emotion  through 
every  part  of  the  body  and  the  bringing  of  the  whole 
voice  into  vibratory  unity. 

Other  things  being  equal,  those  persons  who  have  no 
modulations  of  the  body  by  feeling,  who  have  gestures 
but  no  attitudes,  have  also  little  tone  color.  The  ab- 
sence of  texture  and  color  in  most  of  our  speakers  is 
due  in  part  at  least  to  the  neglect  of  any  genuine 
method  for  the  training  of  the  modulations  of  body 
by  being  and  unity  with  conditions  of  voice.  Action 
is  regarded  as  mere  gesture,  mere  motion,  as  merely 
spectacular,  merely  accidental.  Whereas  it  is  the 
most  fundamental  of  languages,  and  directly  united  to 
conditions  of  voice  if  it  does  not  determine  them. 

The  first  effect  of  emotion  is  upon  the  body.  Panto- 
mime, as  has  been  said,  always  precedes  speech  in 
nature.  It  supports  speech.  It  transcends  speech, 
and  it  is  the  basic  condition  of  true  speech.  It  expresses 
the  man  himself,  his  deeper  moods,  his  deeper  realiza- 
tions, his  sympathetic  identification  with  other  char- 
acters, while  the  modulation  of  tone  and  its  articula- 
tion hi  words,  expresses  more  nearly  the  movement 
and  variation  of  ideas  and  emotions. 

These  three  languages  are  primary.  In  nature  they 
form  a  co-ordinate  unity.  In  every  animal  organism,  part 
is  vitally  linked  with  part.  Man's  body  is  not  built;  it 
grows.  No  one  part  can  be  restricted  or  used  abnor- 
mally without  some  effect  upon  other  parts.  Action 
depends  upon  the  body  as  a  whole.  The  vocal  organism 


378  MIND   AND   VOICE 

is  only  a  part.    Unless  the  whole  is  in  proper  condition 
how  can  we  expect  right  action  of  a  part? 

One  of  the  essentials  hi  all  expression,  even  in  the 
training  of  the  voice,  is  to  rid  ourselves  of  the  universal 
misconception  that  action  is  motion;  that  it  is  external 
and  accidental.  On  the  contrary,  the  sublimest  action 
causes  few  movements  of  arm  or  hands  or  sway  of  the 
body.  It  is  an  expansion,  a  living,  a  sustained  stillness 
under  the  dominion  of  imagination  and  feeling. 

Emotion  acts  directly  upon  the  body  as  it  does  upon 
breathing,  but  tone  is  different.  It  is  a  result  of  condi- 
tions, and  more  or  less  of  a  reflex  action  from  panto- 
mimic expression. 

It  is  true  emotion  acts  directly  upon  breathing  as  well 
as  upon  the  body,  but  the  breathing  is  as  much  a  part 
of  action,  if  not  more,  than  it  is  of  tone.  The  tone  is 
the  result  of  action  of  the  breathing,  after  being  attuned 
by  the  imaginative  and  emotional  instincts  and  condi- 
tions. All  expression  in  these  sympathetic  vibrations, 
especially  in  the  texture  of  the  tone,  is  more  or  less  the 
reflex  action  of  pantomimic  expression. 

If  these  principles  are  true,  then  the  body  and  voice 
should  both  be  trained  for  improvement  of  tone  or  any 
phase  of  living  expression. 

The  first  exercise  for  the  body  should  be  more  or  less 
independent  of  those  for  the  voice,  but  from  the  very 
first  there  should  be  an  endeavor  to  establish  co-ordi- 
nations between  body  and  voice  through  the  actions  of 
the  mind,  and  these  co-ordinations  must  grow  more  and 
more  intimate.  The  exercises  must  first  heed  the  actions 
of  the  individual  parts  and  restore  these  to  the  normal, 
but  from  the  very  foundation  some  attention  must  be 
given  to  co-ordinate  relations.  It  is  my  contention  that 
even  a  specific  function,  such  as  the  opening  of  the 
throat,  cannot  be  secured  except  through  co-ordination 
with  other  parts.  Certainly  this  co-ordinate  unity  of  all 


THE   SHAPE   OF   THE   SOUND   WAVES          379 

parts  of  body  and  voice  and  being  must  more  and  more 
be  recognized  in  all  true  expression  if  the  highest  re- 
sults are  to  be  obtained. 

Action  precedes  speech.  When  a  truth  is  so  intensely 
realized  that  action  is  intensified,  it  is  a  part  of  the  pre- 
paratory actions  for  speech.  The  condition  of  the  muscles 
is  so  changed  that  the  voice  is  effected.  It  is  this  pan- 
tomimic action  that  causes  change  of  texture. 

We  may  arrange  a  law :  in  proportion  to  the  intensity 
and  precedence  of  the  action,  when  caused  by  genuine 
intensity  of  imaginative  and  emotional  realization,  will 
be  the  change  in  the  texture  and  color  of  the  voice. 

Not  only  is  action  present  in  proportion  to  the  in- 
tensity of  the  realization  but  the  same  is  true  of  texture. 
Texture  is  in  some  sense  the  reflex  action  of  panto- 
mimic expression. 

The  nature  of  pantomime  in  our  time  is  almost  totally 
misunderstood.  Words  are  the  climactic  language  for 
our  ideas,  but  the  basis  of  all  expression  by  signs  is 
action.  Science  teaches  us  that  it  was  the  first  lan- 
guage. The  motor  centre  for  speech  hi  the  brain  is  on 
top  of  the  motor  centre  for  the  right  arm. 

It  will  be  difficult  to  prove  the  principles  here  in- 
volved unless  the  student  will  experiment  with  himself 
through  his  body  and  his  voice  and  notice  the  condi- 
tion of  responsiveness.  He  will  then  realize  the  mar- 
velous truth  of  these  statements. 

III.   REALIZATION   AND  TEXTURE. 

If  texture  is,  accordingly,  the  manifestation  in  the 
voice  of  a  degree  of  realization  so  deep  as  to  modulate 
the  very  conditions  of  the  whole  myological  mechanism, 
then  we  can  see  that  it  has  a  broader  application  than 
mere  dramatic  expression  or  the  interpretation  of  a 
character. 

There  is  not  so  much  difference  as  is  commonly 


380  MIND   AND  VOICE 

thought  between  lyric,  epic,  and  dramatic  poetry.  All 
poetry  is  the  "  intense  realization  of  truth."  To  my 
mind  there  is  a  lyric  and  an  epic  as  well  as  a  dramatic 
instinct.  Poetry  is  an  inherent  element  in  human 
nature.  These  three  forms  of  poetry  and  others  also 
are  simply  names  of  different  kinds  of  experiences 
which  come  to  the  child  in  its  earliest  realization  of 
life.  If  this  is  true  and  the  training  of  the  voice  is 
simply  the  development  of  it  as  the  direct  manifesta- 
tion of  the  realization  of  thinking,  imagination,  and 
feeling  then  we  should  not  neglect  this  profoundest 
expression  in  the  voice  of  the  unity  of  all  faculties  and 
powers  which  is  characteristic  of  a  human  being. 

Texture  of  the  voice  is  manifestation  of  these  primary 
instincts  acting  in  their  unity. 

Another  danger  in  texture,  especially  in  its  dramatic 
aspect,  is  the  introduction  of  extravagant  manipulation. 
In  some  extreme  character,  such  as  Stephano  in  "  The 
Tempest,"  old  Gobbo  in  "  The  Merchant  of  Venice," 
we  are  tempted  merely  to  accept  some  extravagant 
change  in  the  voice.  I  saw  a  very  prominent  dramatic 
artist  exhibit  a  lot  of  marvelous  feats  in  Bottom  in 
"  The  Midsummer  Night's  Dream."  I  say  I  saw  him 
advisedly,  for  the  effects  of  such  manipulation  were 
not  heard  in  his  voice.  His  voice  was  his  own  and  re- 
mained without  any  change  of  texture  or  tone  color. 
Such  manipulations  are  the  degradation  of  dramatic 
art.  All  characters,  even  in  true  farce  and  burlesque, 
to  be  dramatic  at  all,  must  be  realized  by  imaginative 
and  sympathetic  assimilation.  This  is  true  dramatic 
instinct,  true  dramatic  art. 

A  speech  of  old  Gobbo  may  furnish  a  good  exercise 
to  test  our  relaxation  of  the  whole  body  and  the  re- 
sponse of  every  part  to  our  instinct.  The  position  of 
the  feet  must  not  be  fixed,  nor  the  back  bent,  nor  any 
part  of  the  body  merely  adjusted.  A  sympathetic  identi- 


THE    SHAPE    OF   THE    SOUND    WAVES  381 

fication  causes  every  muscle  to  become  relaxed  and 
all  parts  to  unite  in  one  condition,  expressive  of  our 
instinctive  assimilation,  and  the  voice  spontaneously 
results.  It  cannot  be  manipulated  into  any  tones 
genuinely  expressive  of  the  character.  The  action  of 
both  body  and  voice  must  be  the  result  of  modulation. 

Caliban.     The  spirit  torments  me.     O! 

Stephano.     This  is  some  monster  of  the  isle,  with  four  legs  who  hath 

got,  as  I  take  it,  an  ague. 
Caliban.    Do  not  torment  me,  pr'ythee ;  I  '11  bring  my  wood  home 

faster.  .  .  . 
Trinculo.     I  should  know  that  voice :  it  should  be  —  But  he  is 

drowned,  and  these  are  devils.     O !  defend  me !  — 
Stephano.    Four  legs,  and  two  voices!  a  most  delicate  monster! 
Trinculo.     Stephano,  — 
Stephano.     Doth  thy  other  mouth  call  me?    Mercy!  mercy!  This  is 

a  devil  and  no  monster: 
Trinculo.     Stephano !  —  if  thou  beest   Stephano,   touch  me,   and 

speak  to  me ;  for  I  am  Trinculo :  be  not  af eard,  —  thy  good  friend 

Trinculo. 
Stephano.    If  thou  beest  Trinculo,  come  forth. 


Illustrations  can  be  found  everywhere.  Stephano  is 
drunk,  but  the  drunkenness  is  not  the  primary  element. 
The  character  must  be  under  the  drunkenness.  True 
dramatic  instinct,  especially  when  it  manifests  itself 
in  texture,  must  not  deal  with  accidents,  but  with  fun- 
damental conditions  sympathetically  assimilated. 

We  can  see  that  lyric  expression  may  call  for  as  in- 
tense realization  and  as  deep  response  in  the  whole 
body  as  dramatic  expression. 

Take  some  passage  full  of  tenderness,  and  note  that 
as  the  imagination  and  the  sympathies  are  awakened 
there  is  a  sense  of  diffusion  of  emotion  through  the 
body.  The  texture  of  the  muscles  seems  to  grow  soft 
and  the  vibrations  richer  and  more  sympathetic.  The 
tone  no  longer  appears  to  come  from  one  spot,  but  there 


382  MIND   AND   VOICE 

is  a  sympathetic  vibration  through  the  whole  vocal 
mechanism  and  body.  The  sensation  is  true.  We  can 
prove  by  experiment  that  the  body  is  vibrating. 

Maid  of  my  love,  sweet  Genevieve! 

In  beauty's  light  you  glide  along : 
Your  eye  is  like  the  star  of  eve, 

And  sweet  your  voice  as  seraph's  song. 

Coleridge. 

A  LOST  CHORD. 

Seated  one  day  at  the  organ,  I  was  weary  and  ill  at  ease,  and  my 
fingers  wandered  idly  over  the  noisy  keys.  I  do  not  know  what  I 
was  playing,  or  what  I  was  dreaming  then,  but  I  struck  one  chord 
of  music,  like  the  sound  of  a  great  Amen. 

It  flooded  the  crimson  twilight,  like  the  close  of  an  angel's  psalm, 
and  it  lay  on  my  fevered  spirit,  with  a  touch  of  infinite  calm.  It 
quieted  pain  and  sorrow,  like  love  overcoming  strife ;  it  seemed  the 
harmonious  echo  from  our  discordant  life.  It  linked  all  perplexed 
meanings  into  one  perfect  peace,  and  trembled  away  into  silence,  as 
if  it  were  loth  to  cease. 

I  have  sought,  but  I  seek  it  vainly,  that  one  lost  chord  divine,  that 
came  from  the  soul  of  the  organ,  and  entered  into  mine.  It  may 
be  that  Death's  bright  angel  will  speak  in  that  chord  again;  it  may 
be  that  only  in  Heaven  I  shall  hear  that  grand  Amen. 

Adelaide  Anne  Proctor. 

A  most  important  means  of  realizing  the  nature  of 
texture  is  the  practice  of  extreme  transitions  taken  from 
the  simplest  poetry.  These  transitions  are  also  neces- 
sary, as  has  been  shown,  for  a  mastery  of  tone  color;  but 
here  the  realization  and  experience  must  become  more 
extreme.  In  practice,  however,  there  should  be  little 
distinction  between  tone  color  and  texture  since  all  the 
modulations  blend  together  in  unity.  The  student  should 
centre  his  attention  upon  his  realization.  His  conscious- 
ness should  only  be  accidentally,  so  to  speak,  concerned 
in  recognizing  that  body  and  voice  do  respond,  that  the 
complex  response  does  contain  all  these  elements. 

These  transitions,  of  course,  are  not  found  merely  in 


THE   SHAPE   OF   THE   SOUND   WAVES  383 

lyric  or  epic  poetry.  .They  are  found  in  the  dramatic, 
in  the  speech  of  individuals.  Such  changes  are  con- 
tinual if  there  is  sympathetic  identification  with  the 
character.  A  story  teller  modulates  his  texture  and 
shows  marvelous  changes.  For  example,  observe  the 
extreme  transition  in  this  speech  of  Ingomar.  We 
have  here  also  a  confirmation  of  our  principles  regard- 
ing action.  Observe  that  if  we  read  on  without  deep 
thought  and  feeling,  without  pausing  and  so  reali- 
zing his  emotion  as  to  cause  action,  there  will  be  little 
change  in  the  voice. 

Hark!  how  'mid  their  revelry 
They  raise  the  battle-cry!    The  clang  of  arms, 
And  war,  and  victory  for  me!    Away 
With  idle  dreams!    Why,  what  to  me  are  women? 
Yet  she  —  ah !  she  is  not  like  those  at  home, 
Clad  in  their  shaggy  skins,  sunburned,  their  bodies 
Loaded  with  clumsy  ornaments,  happy  in  bondage, 
With  base  caresses  humbly  seeking  favor 
Of  their  base  lords. 
From  ' '  Ingomar  "  Sheridan  Knowles. 

At  first  Ingomar  is  extremely  antagonistic.  "What 
to  me  are  women?  "  but  with  the  next  words  he  pauses 
in  his  rush  from  the  scene.  His  face  and  the  texture  of 
his  body  change,  his  breathing  and  its  rhythm,  the  ten- 
sion of  his  muscles  softens.  He  will  have  more  breath, 
which  will  be  more  harmoniously  inhaled  and  retained, 
and  there  will  be  complete  change  in  body  and  voice, 
when  he  thinks  of  Parthenia. 

Such  extreme  transitions  call  for  long  pauses  and 
change  in  the  very  texture  of  the  body  with  breathing,  all 
parts  responding  to  the  conception  of  the  imaginative 
situation,  and  the  sympathetic  identification,  until  the 
emotion  diffuses  itself  through  the  body.  The  student 
should  practice  such  a  transition  over  and  over  until  the 
amount  of  breath,  the  texture  of  the  body,  the  key,  tone 


384  MIND   AND   VOICE 

color,  and  movement  are  all  changed  spontaneously, 
unitedly  and  sympathetically  in  response  to  the  mind. 
He  must  not  manipulate  but  allow  body  and  voice  to  be 
modulated  by  his  mind. 

All  expression  is  the  revelation  of  life.  The  modula- 
tions of  body  or  voice  demand  that  we  live  before  we 
give.  Literature  thus  has  been  called  an  interpretation 
or  "  criticism  "  of  life.  If  literature  embodies  human 
realization  of  life  its  vocal  interpretation  must  manifest 
the  presence  of  the  ideas,  thoughts,  and  experiences  at 
the  very  moment  in  such  a  way  as  to  reveal  their  essential 
characters  through  a  living  body  and  voice,  naturally 
manifesting  the  essential  spirit  of  that  life  as  realized  by 
an  individual. 

IV.   MANIPULATION  AND   MODULATION. 

An  important  but  overlooked  distinction  can  now  be 
made  clear,  the  difference  between  manipulation  and 
modulation.  .By  manipulation  is  meant  the  domination 
of  the  voice  directly  by  will,  causing  it  to  change  its 
pitch,  perform  certain  actions,  or  produce  certain  quali- 
ties or  effects  independent  of  subconscious  response  to 
thinking  and  feeling.  As  examples  of  manipulation, 
notice  those  readers  who  use  the  falsetto  or  a  throaty, 
nasal,  or  flat  tone  to  express  a  character.  Such  me- 
chanical uses  to  suggest  a  character  come  not  from 
instinct  but  from  mere  local  management  of  some 
muscle. 

By  modulation,  on  the  other  hand,  is  meant  those 
deep  changes  which  come  spontaneously  from  thinking 
and  feeling,  changes  directly  responsive  to  imagination 
and  sympathy  or  the  action  of  sympathetic  instinct.  The 
process  by  which  the  voice  is  truly  modulated  is  uncon- 
scious; one  is  more  conscious  of  the  cause  than  of  the 
result.  Modulations  result  not  from  imitation  but  from 
assimilation,  and  are  the  natural  response  to  some 


THE   SHAPE   OF   THE   SOUND   WAVES  385 

mental  and  emotional  action.  Examples  of  modulation 
are  inflexion,  change  of  pitch,  touch,  movement,  tone 
color,  and  texture.  These  are  all  natural  modulations  of 
the  voice.  They  are  found  in  every  normal  human  being, 
but  he  is  only  partly  conscious  of  them. 

Even  these  are  not  all  equally  voluntary.  Inflexion, 
change  of  pitch,  pause,  and  touch  are  more  conscious 
than  tone  color.  True  qualities  or  all  secondary  vibra- 
tions are  spontaneous.  Texture  is  the  most  involuntary 
of  all. 

Whether  these  principles  are  recognized  or  not,  every 
one  must  feel  that  when  a  public  reader  represents  a 
woman's  voice  on  a  high  pitch  and  a  man's  on  a  low  one, 
or  the  female  character  with  a  thin,  hard  tone  and  a 
masculine  one  with  a  throaty  one,  there  is  something  hi 
such  rendering  purely  artificial,  not  truly  expressive  of 
character.  Such  manipulation  is  only  appropriate  in 
selections  hardly  worth  the  name  of  literature  or  which 
are  dominated  entirely  by  caricature  and  the  most  super- 
ficial farce  or  burlesque. 

Only  such  natural,  sympathetic  unity  of  all  the  acces- 
sory vibrations  constitutes  genuine  dramatic  art.  Me- 
chanical manipulation  of  the  external  parts  of  the  body, 
such  as  the  feet,  hands,  or  head,  or  even  the  bending  of 
the  back,  belongs  only  to  the  realm  of  imitation,  not  to 
artistic  modulation.  Many  speakers  will  smile  at  this 
and  say  it  applies  only  to  dramatic  art  and  has  no  relation 
to  speaking,  but  this  is  not  true.  Men  with  hard,  con- 
stricted faces  have  hard  voices,  and  the  true  resonant 
texture  of  the  voice  can  scarcely  be  restored  without 
attention  to  the  action  of  the  body. 

Unfortunately,  elocution  has  been  considered  a  re- 
sult of  manipulations  produced  in  accordance  with  cer- 
tain rules.  There  has  been  little  or  no  recognition  of  the 
spontaneous  modulations  of  the  voice,  and  too  little 
realization  of  the  normal  actions  of  the  human  body 


3^6  MIND   AND   VOICE 

to  say  nothing  of  the  neglect  of  studying  the  dramatic 
instinct  and  the  simplest  mental  actions. 

In  the  development  of  delivery  there  is  a  wide  differ- 
ence between  a  method  which  uses  mere  manipulation 
and  one  which  endeavors  to  develop  a  vocabulary  of 
true  expressive  modulations.  Manipulation  is  purely 
artificial,  but  modulation  causes  students  to  realize  the 
meaning  of  pause,  touch,  change  of  pitch,  tone  color, 
texture,  and  movement,  and  by  the  stimulation  of  think- 
ing, the  awakening  of  imagination,  the  securing  of  an 
adequate  impression,  leads  them  to  use  naturally,  even 
subconsciously  and  involuntarily,  the  harmony  of  these 
expressive  modulations. 

One  of  the  fine  applications  of  texture  is  shown  in 
the  change  by  a  true  public  reader  from  one  character 
to  another.  There  is  great  temptation  here  for  manipu- 
lation, but  the  reader  must  have  sufficient  imagination 
and  sympathy  to  give  him  the  power  to  assimilate  one 
character  directly  and  cause  an  almost  immediate 
change  in  the  texture  of  his  muscles  and  voice.  For 
example,  note  the  dialogue  between  Dogberry  and 
Verges  and  their  prisoner,  Boraccio.  Note  also  the 
difference  between  Hamlet  and  Polonius  or  Hamlet 
and  Osric. 


XXVIII.    ELASTICITY 

Facility  in  the  changing  of  pitch,  whether  between  two 
tones  or  during  the  emission  of  a  single  sound,  has  been 
discussed  under  the  term  agility.  Facility  in  varying 
the  height  of  the  sound  wave  has  been  considered  under 
flexibility.  We  need  also  to  understand  and  to  develop 
facility  in  changing  or  modulating  the  shape  of  the  sound 
waves.  To  this,  for  convenience,  the  term  elasticity  will 
be  applied.  Sometimes  agility  of  voice  is  more  devel- 
oped. At  other  times  flexibility.  A  voice  may  be  flexi- 


THE   SHAPE   OF   THE    SOUND    WAVES  387 

ble  and  have  little  range  or  have  wide  range  and  little 
flexibility.  A  voice  may  also  have  either  of  these  and 
be  very  pleasant  in  quality  and  yet  have  no  power  to 
modulate  or  vary  the  secondary  vibrations.  Elasticity  is 
the  last  and  the  rarest  quality  to  be  attained.  All  of 
them  should  not  only  be  exercised  separately  but  also, 
as  far  as  possible,  together.  They  have  a  sympathetic 
organic  relationship  to  each  other,  and  facility  in  one  will 
tend  to  help  facility  in  the  others.  Especially  should 
elasticity  name  certain  steps  in  which  all  of  the  essential 
characteristics  are  exercised  in  modulation. 

These  forms  of  facility  are  analogous  to  melody, 
rhythm  and  harmony  in  music.  Rhythm  is  instinctive 
and  vital ;  it  reveals  force  and  is  one  of  the  first  elements 
to  be  appreciated.  A  salient  vocal  form  or  melody  will 
be  caught  up  at  once  and  be  repeated  on  the  street,  but 
we  are  less  conscious  of  the  sympathetic  union  of  the 
vibrations. 

The  reason  why  many  do  not  enjoy  symphonies  as 
compared  with  songs  is  that  a  song  has  a  definite  form 
by  which  it  can  be  easily  carried  in  the  mind.  A  tune  or 
melody,  in  proportion  to  its  saliency,  will  be  popular,  but 
a  symphony  implies  a  certain  simultaneous  union  of 
many  sounds  and  instruments  giving  rise  to  a  very  com- 
plex, polyphonous  combination  of  chords,  overtones,  and 
sympathetic  vibrations.  The  shape  of  the  sound  wave 
coming  to  the  ear  is  beyond  all  analysis. 

Like  the  beating  of  a  drum,  pause  and  touch  rouse  to 
action.  Like  a  popular  melody,  conversational  form 
appeals  to  the  intellect,  but  like  a  symphony  coming 
from  a  great  orchestra,  the  complex  union  of  overtones, 
sympathetic  vibrations  and  textures  from  the  whole 
body,  —  all  harmoniously  produced  by  the  imagination 
and  diffusion  of  feeling  blend  in  one  harmonious  union 
of  expressive  modulations. 

Of  all  these  modes,  facility  in  changing  the  secondary 


MIND   AND   VOICE 

vibrations  is,  of  course,  the  most  difficult  as  it  is  the 
most  complex.  It  is  less  local,  calls  for  a  response  from 
all  parts  of  the  body,  and  reveals  the  awakening  of 
imagination,  feeling,  and  the  highest  activities  of 
being. 

I.    DEGREES   OF   REALIZATION. 

As  secondary  vibrations  express  imagination  and  feel- 
ing we  should  be  able  to  detect  their  presence. 

Can  you  render  these  two  extracts  so  genuinely  as  to 
reveal  their  differences  in  mental  action  and  expression? 

Absence  of  occupation  is  not  rest; 

A  mind  quite  vacant  is  a  mind  distressed. 

Cowper. 

Speak  to  Him,  thou,  for  He  hears,  and  Spirit  with  Spirit  can  meet — 
Closer  is  He  than  breathing,  and  nearer  than  hands  and  feet. 

Alfred  Tennyson. 

If  the  two  are  given  alike  there  is  either  lack  of  reali- 
zation or  the  voice  is  unresponsive.  Either  the  words 
are  conveyed  as  such  or  ideas  are  abstractly  realized 
and  presented  to  the  cold  intellect.  There  is  no  feeling,, 
no  imagination,  and  no  ideal  modulation  of  the  voice. 

In  all  expression  the  primary  aim  must  be  to  har- 
monize thought,  emotion,  and  will.  Thinking  must  cause 
feeling,  and  both  must  unite  to  make  the  voice  respon- 
sive. Pay  no  attention  to  those  who  consider  all  feeling 
as  unnecessary,  if  not  degrading.  Some  persons  who 
hold  this  view,  are  unfortunately,  trying  to  teach  litera- 
ture. Genuine,  deep  thought  always  causes  feeling. 
Emotion  must  be  educated.  Feeling  is  at  the  foundation 
of  character  and  all  successful  attainment. 

The  practice  of  such  contrasts  awakens  the  necessity 
of  pausing  long  and  frequently  to  receive  a  more  ade- 
quate impression,  and  the  need  of  realizing  intensely 
every  change  in  thinking  and  feeling  in  order  to  produce 
right  response  in  voice  and  body.  Such  practice  must 


THE   SHAPE   OF    THE   SOUND    WAVES  3^9 

also  quicken  the  sense  of  the  possibilities  of  the  voice 
and  the  naturalness  of  the  sublimest  vocal  expression. 

A  most  helpful  means  of  developing  elasticity  is  the 
expression  by  the  voice  of  different  planes  Exercise99 
or  degrees   of  realization.     The   difference  contrasts  in 

Realization. 

between  the  commonplace  and  the  poetic 
plane  is  one  of  sublime  realization.  Many,  however, 
are  unable  to  realize  the  poetic  plane  of  their  own 
thought,  or  to  express  it  by  the  voice.  Such  rendering 
is  a  wonderful  help  in  developing  appreciation  of  poetry. 
It  tests  adequately  the  degree  or  the  plane  of  imagina- 
tion and  emotion,  and  when  once  these  are  realized  the 
mind  is  stimulated  to  reveal  them. 

For  a  more  advanced  exercise  take  the  same  line  or 
sentence  and  render  it  with  several  contrasted  degrees 
of  realization.  Begin  on  the  commonplace  plane,  recog- 
nizing words  only  as  words,  or  facts  as  mere  facts.  Sec- 
ondly, imagine  the  sense  of  the  ideas  as  stirring  one  to 
life  or  giving  animation.  This  will,  of  course,  be  more 
animal,  more  passional,  but  power  is  one  of  the  first 
things  to  be  felt  on  becoming  conscious  of  the  universe 
or  of  nature.  The  commonplace  plane  is  negative,  in- 
different, but  this  vital  plane  is  the  first  stage  of  awaken- 
ing. Thirdly,  the  thought  of  the  line  may  be  looked  upon 
as  a  profound  mystery.  Any  idea  can  be  regarded  in  this 
light.  This  is,  of  course,  more  subjective  and  human. 
It  implies  imagination  and  awakening  to  the  sense  of 
the  mystery  at  the  heart  of  nature.  Fourthly,  as  the 
climax  of  these  planes,  the  thought  may  be  recognized 
in  its  most  spiritual  light,  with  a  sense  of  awe  or  universal 
love  and  sympathy.  Render  the  following  line  in  accord- 
ance with  all  of  these  degrees  or  planes  of  realization. 

Oh,  wind  of  the  mountain,  wind  of  the  mountain,  hear! " 

We  may  realize  only  its  meaning  or  relations  to  the 
poem  from  which  it  comes.  This  is  the  commonplace 


3QO  MIND   AND   VOICE 

plane.  We  may,  however,  realize  a  tremendous  storm 
raging  through  the  mountain  and  feel  the  swaying  of  the 
trees  and  the  quiver  of  the  hills.  When  realization  is 
genuine  the  body  expands,  we  take  breath  and  increase 
the  volume  of  the  voice. 

In  the  third  place  we  can  change  the  situation,  can 
hear  the  breeze  blowing  through  the  pines  and  are  awed 
with  a  sense  of  the  mystery.  The  voice  now  becomes 
soft  and  resonant.  The  tone  passage  must  remain  as 
open  as  before,  we  must  have  fully  as  much  breath,  and 
the  whole  body  be  equally  expanded,  yet  by  realizing  an 
imaginative  scene,  the  color  and  even  the  texture  of  the 
voice  are  changed  and  become  extremely  delicate,  sug- 
gesting profound  awe. 

In  the  last  place  as  we  realize  the  harmony  of  wind 
and  trees  and  sky  and  cloud,  and  our  hearts  are  filled 
with  a  sense  of  the  unity  or  intercommunion  of  all,  we 
feel  the  union  of  all  forces  as  the  expressions  of  life  and 
love.  The  tone  will  at  once  become  rich  with  secondary 
vibrations,  and  while  not  vital  or  loud,  as  in  the  second 
degree  of  realization,  yet  it  is  far  higher  and  expresses 
the  deepest  worship  of  the  heart. 

Another  good  illustration  is  found  in  the  following 
clause  from  Coleridge's  "  Mont  Blanc  " : 

"  Rise,  Oh  ever  rise !  " 

This  may  be  given  first  as  commonplace  words.  Then 
we  may  feel  the  force  lifting  this  mountain,  over  15,000 
feet  high,  into  the  sky,  and  express  crudely  the  sense 
of  power.  Again,  we  can  contemplate  it  as  a  matter  of 
profound  mystery.  Mont  Blanc  may  seem  to  us  a  mighty 
vision.  The  imagination  is  kindled.  The  tone  in  this 
case  becomes  the  finest  possible.  There  will  exist  much 
reserve  of  breath,  intensity  of  feeling,  and  other  condi- 
tions, but  the  tone  is  on  the  extreme  edge  of  the  vocal 
bands.  Such  delicate  tones  express  an  exalted,  imagi- 


THE   SHAPE    OF   THE    SOUND    WAVES  391 

native,  or  mystic  attitude  of  mind.    Lastly  the  clause 
may  be  given  with  a  sublime  sense  of  awe. 

So  great  are  the  differences  between  such  renderings 
that  they  may  be  regarded  as  fundamental.  I  have  even 
ventured  to  call  the  exercise  elemental  texture  of  the 
voice.  There  is  little  or  no  modulation  of  tone  color  in 
the  commonplace  expression,  or  in  the  second,  for  animal 
passion  expresses  itself  in  loudness.  Poetic  expression 
begins  with  the  third.  In  the  last  we  touch  a  higher 
plane  of  poetry,  beauty,  or  sublimity.  There  is  a  sym- 
pathetic relation  of  all  parts.  The  tone  is  the  most 
pleasing  because  its  overtones  and  sympathetic  vibra- 
tions are  accentuated.  We  cannot  reach  this  highest 
plane  without  mastering  the  third  step.  We  get  this 
sympathetic  vibration  only  through  the  delicate  control 
of  the  edge  of  the  vocal  bands,  just  as  the  emotions  of 
worship  and  awe  come  through  imaginative  realization 
of  things  on  the  plane  of  wonder. 

Such  lines  can  be  taken  from  a  great  variety  of  sources 
with  distinct  and  decided  differences.    There  Exercise  100. 
should  be  no  mingling  of  one  impression  fexturesof 
with  another,  but  each  should  be  definitely  ^Q^oice-1- 
realized  by  the  imagination  and  decidedly  expressed 
by  the  voice. 

Roll,  roll,  ye  waves,  and  thunder  on  the  shore. 
"  Pour,  pour,  Niagara,  thy  mighty  waters  evermore !  " 

"  What  ought  not  to  be  done,  do  not  even  think  of  doing." 

Epictetus. 

In  this  connection  it  is  important  for  all  to  realize  the 
difference  between  prose  and  poetry.  In  prose  the  mind 
is  looking  more  at  objects  as  objects,  at  facts  as  facts, 
at  words  as  words.  Things  are  observed  on  the  com- 
monplace plane,  but  poetry  implies  not  the  external 
transcription  of  facts,  but  the  soul's  impression  of  them. 


MIND   AND   VOICE 

Art  is  found,  whether  in  reading,  in  the  use  of  pigment, 
or  music,  when  the  artist  gets  such  an  intense  realiza- 
tion of  facts  and  of  objects  that  he  interprets  his  experi- 
ence of  them. 

It  is  for  this  reason  that  true  expression  implies  poetry. 
The  higher  the  realization  the  greater  the  poetry,  and 
the  more  frequent  must  be  the  introduction  of  accessory 
voice  vibrations.  The  voice  is  a  wonderful  test  of  the 
realization  of  imagination,  feeling,  or  poetry.  It  is, 
however,  often  so  constricted,  that  it  does  not  respond  to 
feeling.  Vocal  training  develops  its  possibilities  so  that 
there  will  be  a  normal  and  sympathetic  response  of  all 
the  modulations  of  the  voice  to  express  degrees  of  reali- 
zation of  the  thought. 

All  will  be  helped  by  contrasting  passages  from  the 
plainest  prose  to  highest  poetry  and  sublimity.  Some- 
times a  transition  from  one  degree  to  another  can  be 
found  in  the  same  passage,  even  in  what  is  supposed  to 
be  prose. 

Contrasts  of  lines  or  stanzas  may  be  studied  con- 
'  sistent  with  these  four  and  in  fact  more 


S?vSS-n.   planes  and  degrees  of  realization. 

A  blind  man  would  know  that  one  was  a  gentleman  and  the  other 

a  clown  by  the  tones  of  their  voices. 

Not  Known. 

Ye  hold  me  not!  no,  no,  nor  can; 

This  hour  has  made  the  boy  a  man. 

"  The  Polish  Boy  '  '  Anna  G.  Stevenson. 

Oh!  gentle  rose,  upon  a  thorn 
All  thy  sweet  loveliness  was  born. 

Far  along,  from  peak  to  peak,  the  rattling  crags  among,  leaps  the 
live  thunder  !  not  from  one  lone  cloud,  but  every  mountain  now  hath 
found  a  tongue  ;  and  Jura  answers,  through  her  misty  shroud,  back 
to  the  joyous  Alps,  who  call  to  her  aloud, 

"  Childe  Harold  "  Byron, 


THE   SHAPE   OF   THE   SOUND   WAVES          393 

4 

Sleep,  soldiers !  still  in  honored  rest  your  truth  and  valor  wearing: 
The  bravest  are  the  tenderest,  —  the  loving  are  the  daring. 
"  Song  of  the  Camp ' '  Bayard  Taylor. 

He  who  hath  a  thousand  friends  has  not  a  friend  to  spare, 
And  he  who  has  one  enemy  shall  meet  him  everywhere. 

There  rolls  the  deep  where  grew  the  tree. 
O  Earth  what  changes  hast  thou  seen! 
There  where  the  long  street  roars,  hath  been 

The  stillness  of  the  central  sea. 

Alfred  Tennyson. 

"  Law.  .  .  her  seat  is  the  bosom  of  God,  her  voice  the  harmony 
of  the  world." 

THE  SKYLARK. 

The  April  sky  sags  low  and  drear,  the  April  winds  blow  cold,  the 
April  rains  fall  gray  and  sheer,  and  yearlings  keep  the  fold.  But 
the  rook  has  built,  and  the  song-bird's  quire,  and  over  the  faded  lea 
the  lark  soars  glorying,  gyre  on  gyre,  and  he  is  the  bird  for  me! 
For  he  sings  as  if  from  his  watchman's  height  he  saw,  this  blighting 
day,  the  far  vales  break  into  colour  and  light  from  the  banners  and 
arms  of  May. 

From  "  Hawthorn  and  Lavender  "  W.  E.  Henley. 

Since  secondary  vibrations  are  complex,  unconscious, 
and  not  commonly  noticed,  such  contrasts  are  especially 
helpful.  Here  again  it  is  important  to  work  upon  decided 
transitions. 

It  has  been  the  endeavor  to  grade  these  as  well  as 
other  primary  exercises  through  the  whole  book.  Still 
other  transitions  can  be  arranged,  and  it  is  possible  to 
find  such  as  will  be  adapted  to  every  step. 

Observe,  in  a  genuine  realization  and  adequate  ren- 
dering of  these  four  lines,  what  a  sudden  and  extreme 
transition  comes  after  the  second  line.  How  different 
is  the  expression  of  the  intense  admiration  for  the 
bride.  The  face  beams  with  joy  and  pleasure,  the 
body  expands,  and  the  voice  becomes  rich  and  tender 
in  admiration  of  her  beauty.  Then  suddenly  from  a 


394  MIND   AND   VOICE 

wedding  the  scene  turns  to  a  funeral.  What  change  in 
pitch,  in  control  of  breath;  in  face  and  body!  What 
contrast  in  movement,  in  tone  color,  and  in  texture! 
Note  too,  that  practically  all  these  changes  appear  in 
the  first  word  of  the  third  line  "  There." 

From  that  chamber,  clothed  in  white, 
The  bride  came  forth  on  her  wedding-night; 
There,  in  that  silent  room  below, 
The  dead  lay  in  his  shroud  of  snow. 
From  "  The  Old  Clock  on  the  Stairs  "  H.  W.  Longfellow. 

Work  upon  such  a  transition  should  continue  until 
the  reader  can  receive  so  intense  an  impression  that 
adequate  expression  will  follow.  After  each  step  and 
after  each  transition  especially  it  should  be  applied  to 
some  complete  though  short  poem  or  passage.  An  ex- 
ercise such  as  a  transition  must  be  accentuated  very 
decidedly  and  at  times  exaggerated.  It  is  like  a  study 
by  a  painter.  Hence,  it  should  be  applied,  for  in  ren- 
dering some  passage  where  several  such  transitions 
occur  its  true  place  will  be  seen  and  felt,  and  the  neces- 
sity of  such  work  will  be  more  adequately  realized. 


XXIX.     SECONDARY  VIBRATIONS  IN  SONG 

Expression  in  song  is  usually  secured  in  two  ways. 
First  by  modulation  of  pitch,  that  is,  by  melody;  and 
secondly,  by  varying  the  degrees  of  force  or  the  giving 
of  passages  loud  or  soft.  It  is  surprising  that  the  third 
and  most  expressive  modulation  of  the  voice  should  be 
so  often  overlooked  in  this  exalted,  ideal  art. 

This  scripture  passage,  "  He  shall  rise  up  at  the 
voice  of  the  bird,"  was  given  by  a  musical  society  with 
force  and  loudness.  One  who  knew  Hebrew  asked  the 
leader  "  Why  did  you  render  that  passage  so  loud?  " 
He  said,  "  It  refers  to  an  old  man  who  was  awakened 


THE    SHAPE   OF   THE    SOUND   WAVES  395 

very  early  in  the  morning  by  the  crowing  of  a  cock." 
"  The  Hebrew  word,"  replied  the  other,  "  here  trans- 
lated bird  means  the  smallest  of  birds,  hence  the  pas- 
sage means  that  the  old  man  is  awakened  by  the  slightest 
noise."  From  this  it  can  be  seen  that  both  speakers 
implied  that  the  chief  modulation  in  song  is  loudness  or 
softness.  In  this  case  it  was  more  or  less  correct,  but 
rarely  do  we  find  any  reference  to  the  emotional  color- 
ing which  should  be  given  in  singing  to  express  feeling. 

Much  crudeness  in  the  art  of  song  seems  necessary 
on  account  of  large  choruses.  It  is  not  to  be  expected 
that  there  should  be  anything  more  than  melody,  or 
loud  and  soft,  with  large  numbers.  This  may  be  true, 
but  the  neglect  is  almost  as  universal  in  solo  singing 
and  even  in  the  dramatic  singing  of  the  opera.  Even 
those  who  have  fine  tone  color  are  hardly  conscious  of 
what  it  is;  most  regard  it  as  an  accident  of  birth,  or 
an  indirect  result  of  teaching.  It  has  hardly  been 
scientifically  explained,  and  few,  if  any  exercises,  have 
been  adopted  for  its  development. 

Recently  I  saw  a  criticism  of  a  great  singer.  She  was 
called  a  colorature  artist.  I  hoped  that  here  was  a 
singer  who  had  given  attention  to  texture  and  tone 
color.  But  afterwards  I  found  that  it  was  only  another 
name  for  the  old  quivers  and  trills.  I  then  hunted  up 
the  dictionary  and  found  "  colorature  "  defined  as :  "A 
general  term  for  runs,  trills,  and  other  florid  decorations 
for  vocal  music,  in  which  the  single  syllables  of  the 
words  are  to  be  sung  to  two  or  more  tones;  also  called 
coloring." 

The  absence  of  tone  color  in  nearly  all  the  singing  of 
our  time  is  due  to  the  fact  that  the  complete  phenomena 
of  voice  modulation  are  not  grasped  by  teachers.  Is  it 
possible  that  the  art  of  singing,  great  as  have  been  the 
results,  is  as  yet  incomplete?  I  sincerely  believe  that 
more  adequate  scientific  explanation,  coupled  with 


396  MIND    AND    VOICE 

higher  artistic  ideals  and  use  of  the  knowledge  in  an 
artistic  way,  will  in  time  carry  the  art  to  higher  heights 
than  ever  before  attained.  What  may  singers  not  ac- 
complish with  thoroughly  trained  imaginations  and 
disciplined  feeling,  with  bodies  made  more  normal  and 
responsive  by  more  harmonic  and  psychic  training, 
when  they  are  able  to  control  the  sympathetic  vibra- 
tions from  the  whole  body  hi  response  to  feeling? 

Many  illustrious  teachers  of  singing  say:  "The 
singer  must  not  try  to  act."  This  astounding  direction 
was  given  by  a  brother  of  Delsarte.  Delsarte  is,  so  far 
as  we  know,  the  first  who  taught  that  expressive  modula- 
tions of  voice  in  singing  are  due  to  pantomimic  action. 
The  general  opinion  of  those  who  heard  him  sing,  at 
least  of  those  whom  I  have  interviewed,  was  that  his 
gestures  were  too  extreme.  Possibly  he  may  have  ex- 
aggerated action  on  account  of  his  discovery  of  the  rela- 
tion of  action  to  song,  but  in  principle  he  certainly  was 
right,  and  the  world  must  yet  recognize  his  discovery. 

I  am  sure  that  the  student  of  singing,  who  will  follow 
carefully  the  steps  indicated  in  this  book  for  the  devel- 
opment of  the  voice,  or  the  teacher  who  will  study  this 
and  the  companion  volumes  on  training  and  expression, 
and  will  observe  his  art  from  a  wider  point  of  view,  will 
realize  higher  possibilities.  When  the  action  is  genuine, 
it  not  only  is  no  hindrance  but  is  a  positive  condition  to 
any  right  use  of  the  voice. 

Action  in  singing  is  of  course  different  from  that  of 
speaking.  As  speech  is  more  discursive  and  expresses 
successive  ideas  while  song  expresses  the  underlying 
emotional  responses  and  sustained  situations,  similarly 
speech  has  more  gesture,  song  more  attitude.  Even  in 
speech,  however,  the  attitude  must  always  transcend 
and  justify  the  gesture.  The  former  is  more  conditional, 
the  latter  more  emotional.  The  attitude  is  more  per- 
manent, the  gesture  more  transitory. 


THE   SHAPE   OF   THE   SOUND   WAVES          397 

Hardly  any  close  observer  will  fail  to  recognize 
that  the  singing  of  our  time  is  as  a  rule  too  mechanical 
and  conventional.  A  Melba  has  flexibility  and  pure 
tone,  but  does  she  move  us?  .Many  prominent  singers 
express  little  feeling.  The  various  trills  and  extrava- 
gant variations  upon  which  they  pride  themselves  are 
artificial. 

In  every  case  in  proportion  to  lack  of  feeling,  to  the 
fact  that  singing  is  mechanical,  we  shall  find  inability 
to  change  the  overtones  under  the  dominion  of  feeling. 
The  body  is  stiff,  and  there  is  no  variation  in  the  tex- 
ture of  the  muscles.  The  voice  is  monotonous  because 
of  lack  of  responsiveness,  a  want,  it  may  be,  of  imagina- 
tion and  feeling,  but  certainly  lack  of  expression. 

Singers  do  not  receive  any  training  of  the  body  or 
any  study  of  the  fundamentals  of  expression  in  the 
natural  languages.  It  is  true,  to  sing  is  natural, 
according  to  Herbert  Spencer  "it  is  emotionalized 
speech."  There  is  certainly  more  kinship  between 
speech  and  song  than  many  have  recognized.  The 
simple  expression  and  modulation,  the  use  of  the  voice 
in  speech,  some  of  the  best  teachers  of  singing  contend, 
reveal  more  quickly  certain  abnormal  conditions  of 
voice,  and  they  are  no  doubt  right,  but  why  should  not 
this  method  of  observing  speech  be  carried  farther? 
Why  should  there  not  be  a  broader  study  of  expression, 
including  both  speech  and  song?  The  mechanical  and 
exhibitional  variation  of  pitch  without  much  change  in 
overtones  heard  so  universally  in  operas  and  concerts 
is  certainly  discouraging  to  one  who  is  earnestly  study- 
ing and  hoping  for  higher  development  of  the  art  of 
song. 

What  singer,  what  teacher  of  singing,  will  undertake 
a  fuller  study  of  the  overtones,  will  investigate  the 
variation  of  the  texture  of  the  muscles  of  the  body  by 
feeling  and  the  effect  of  these  upon  tone ;  who  will  find 


39**  MIND   AND   VOICE 

the  real  laws  of  expression  of  the  whole  body,  who  will 
observe  the  important  pantomimic  actions  of  the  body 
and  of  the  many  emotional  modulations  of  speech,  and 
then  apply  these  to  the  development  of  song?  When 
shall  we  recognize  as  possible  the  power  to  modulate 
and  indirectly  to  control  secondary  vibrations?  When 
shall  we  feel  that  this  is  the  climax  of  vocal  art?  Occa- 
sionally a  Sembrich  or  a  Nordica  does  express  the  deepest 
feeling  in  the  right  way,  but  so  ignorant  are  we  that  we 
imagine  it  is  only  instinctive,  only  something  personal 
and  peculiar  to  the  individual.  Rarely  do  we  think  of 
such  exalted  art  as  the  result  not  only  of  genius  but  of 
long  years  of  thorough  and  patient  training. 

Though  a  student  in  singing  with  some  of  the  greatest 
masters  I  have  never  taught  it  or  practiced  it  as  an  art, 
and  hence  lack  that  experience  that  would  enable  me 
to  speak  with  authority.  Still,  from  what  observation 
and  experience  I  have  had,  I  feel  sure  that  the  same 
steps  here  advocated  for  tone  color  and  texture  in 
speaking  which  are  the  result  of  over  thirty  years  of 
investigation  and  practical  study  are  applicable  to  sing- 
ing. I  urge  students  to  experiment  with  themselves, 
to  take  some  simple  song,  especially  of  love,  and  to 
give  the  melody  and  degrees  of  softness,  but  also  to 
feel  the  theme  so  deeply  and  abandon  the  body  to  it  so 
completely  that  the  texture  of  the  muscles  becomes 
softened  by  diffusion  of  emotion  and  the  tone  directly 
responsive  to  imagination  and  feeling.  Of  course, 
everyone  will  be  apt  to  fail  at  first.  The  body  is  usually 
stiff  and  out  of  poise,  but  let  the  student  develop  its 
oneness  and  unity,  its  harmonious  response  to  feeling 
and  after  persevering  practice  surprising  results  are 
sure  to  follow. 


VIII 
MOULDING  TONE  INTO  WORDS 

XXX.     THE  NATURE   OF   SPEECH 

As  breath  is  put  into  vibration  by  the  vocal  bands 
to  form  tone,  so  tone  is  the  material  by  which  the 
organs  of  articulation  in  the  mouth  mould  the  tone 
into  words.  The  marvelous  phenomena  of  speech  result 
chiefly  from  modulation  of  the  secondary  or  accessory 
vibrations. 

Development  of  right  tone  production  in  a  natural 
order  should  precede  that  of  articulation.  When  tone 
is  properly  produced  there  is  not  only  the  proper  ma- 
terial present  but  in  developing  tone  conditions  we  are 
also  preparing  the  organs  and  establishing  primary  con- 
ditions for  speech.  There  is  no  antagonism  between 
tone  production  and  articulation.  By  the  first  co-ordina- 
tion which  frees  the  tone  passage  we  secure  openness 
of  the  mouth,  and  that  relaxation  of  the  tongue  and  jaw 
which  will  cause  openness  of  the  vowels.  We  also  gain 
freedom  for  the  action  of  the  tongue  and  other  organs  in 
articulation.  An  exercise  in  articulation  that  inter- 
feres with  tone  production  is  bad,  on  the  one  hand; 
and  on  the  other,  an  exercise  in  production  of  tone  which 
does  not  prepare  for  speech  and  develop  it  will  per- 
vert tone  itself.  The  removal  of  constriction  from 
the  tone  passage  will  necessarily  aid  in  removing  it 
from  vowels  and  consonants.  Establishing  proper 
conditions  of  tone  is  necessarily  developing  those  of 
speech. 


400  MIND    AND   VOICE 

I.    ORGANS   OF   SPEECH. 

The  parts  that  articulate  tone  into  speech,  as  distin- 
guished from  those  producing  the  tone  itself,  are  all 
situated  in  the  mouth. 

The  primary  organ  is  the  tongue,  which  is  directly  or 
indirectly  concerned  in  every  element  of  speech.  Ex- 
cept the  few  vowels  which  are  modified  by  the  lips,  and 
still  fewer  in  some  languages  modified  by  the  action  of 
the  soft  palate;  the  tongue  is  almost  the  only  active 
instrument  in  producing  the  vowels. 

Even  in  consonants  the  action  of  the  tongue  is  the 
leading  agent.  For  example,  we  may  think  that  the 
letter  "  w  "  is  entirely  due  to  action  of  the  lips,  but  a 
comparison  of  the  German  with  the  English  "  w  "  brings 
out  the  fact  that  in  the  former  sound  the  tongue  is  re- 
laxed and  passive,  while  in  the  latter  the  back  of  the 
tongue  is  high. 

In  addition  to  the  tongue,  which  may  serve  both  as  a 
passive  and  an  active  agent  in  speech,  we  have  the  lips, 
the  upper  teeth,  and  the  hard  palate,  which  act  only  in 
passive  opposition  to  the  tongue.  The  soft  palate  also 
acts  in  producing  a  few  elements.  But  all  these  parts  act 
in  conjunction  with  the  tongue. 

We  find  difficulty  in  studying  the  sounds  of  the  Eng- 
lish language  on  account  of  the  fact  that  we  have  double 
the  number  of  sounds  to  that  of  letters.  There  are  forty- 
five,  and  possibly  more,  distinct  elements  hi  English 
speech.  For  these  we  have  twenty-six  letters,  of  which 
"  c  "  is  either  "  s  "  or  "  k,"  and  stands  for  no  distinct 
sound.  "  H  "  has  no  fixed  position  for  the  following 
vowel.  The  Greeks,  accordingly,  called  the  two  ways  of 
indicating  a  vowel  rough  and  smooth  breathing.  "  J  "  is 
a  compound,  and  stands  for  two  other  sounds,  "  d  " 
and  "  zh,"  the  opposite  vocal  combination  to  our  "  ch," 
which  is  "  t "  and  "  sh."  "  Q  "  is  only  "  k  "  and  a  breath 


MOULDING   TONE   INTO   WORDS  4OI 

«  w  »  it  x  n  is  either  «  ks  »  or  <c  gz.»  How  many  letters 
for  distinct  sounds  are  left?  Of  the  whole  alphabet, 
we  have  left  barely  twenty-one  signs,  which  must  stand 
for  more  than  double  this  number  of  elemental  sounds, 
to  say  nothing  of  glides  or  compounds. 

The  result  is  necessarily  a  complex  and  meaningless 
doubling  of  elements.  "  Sh  "  has  no  kinship  either  to 
"  h  "  or  "  s."  It  is  a  distinct  element,  and  in  a  perfect 
language  would  have  a  distinct  letter  to  stand  for  it. 
It  is  only  similar  to  "  s  "  in  being  a  sybilant.  Again, 
the  sound  represented  by  the  letter  "  z  "  in  "  pleasure  " 
is  not  a  "  z  "  at  all.  It  has  been  called  "  zh,"  and  is  as 
primary  a  sound  as  "  z  "  itself.  It  is  the  voice  element 
corresponding  to  "  sh." 

The  greatest  difficulty  is  found  with  the  vowels.  Some 
dictionaries  enumerate  no  less  than  six  sounds  of  "  a." 

Not  only  have  we  over  twice  as  many  sounds  as  char- 
acters, but  in  our  language  the  same  sign  is  made  at 
times  to  stand  for  wholly  distinct  sounds.  For  example, 
"  a"  stands  for  short  "o"  as  in  "  what,"  while  uo,"  as 
in  "  nor,"  is  made  to  stand  for  broad  "  a." 

It  is  astonishing  that  we  accept  the  imperfections  of 
the  alphabet  and  of  language,  and  that  little  effort  is 
made  either  to  reform  the  language  or  to  arrange  one 
that  will  be  more  convenient  for  the  communion  of  man 
with  man.  Esperanto  and  some  of  the  other  newly 
invented  and  supposedly  ideal  languages,  take  original 
roots  and  adopt  a  simple,  uniform  method  of  inflecting 
after  a  root,  showing  whether  it  is  a  noun,  verb,  or  an 
adjective,  and  so  on.  But  no  ideal  language  can  be 
invented  without  a  larger  number  of  letters  or  symbols 
or  better  methods  of  representing  sounds. 

A  scientific  and  adequate  system  for  recording  the 
elementary  sounds  has  been  invented  or  discovered  by 
Professor  Alexander  Melville  Bell.  The  great  service 
of  this  invention  in  teaching  deaf  mutes  to  read  and 


402  MIND   AND   VOICE 

speak  has  been  recognized  by  some,  but  so  indifferent 
are  most  persons  that  its  broader  helpfulness  in  the 
study  of  foreign  languages,  and  in  recognizing  and  re- 
cording the  elements  in  our  own,  has  hardly  been 
appreciated.  Visible  speech  consists  of  simple,  but 
adequate  signs,  recording  the  objective  phenomena  of 
all  languages.  Professor  BelPs  letters  or  characters 
have  no  resemblance  to  any  others,  but  in  every  case 
the  curves  or  lines  indicate  the  organs  concerned. 

One  who  wishes  to  master  the  sounds  of  any  language, 
including  his  own,  should  study  some  of  the  works  by 
Professor  Bell  explaining  visible  speech.1  He  will  there 
ascertain  the  nature  of  the  different  sounds,  and  be  able 
to  master  more  easily  the  most  difficult  of  spoken 
languages. 

Professor  BelPs  division  of  the  vowels  is  the  best  yet 
suggested.  He  divides  the  chief  vowels  of  all  languages 
into  three  classes,  which  he  names  "  front  of  the  tongue 
vowels,"  "  middle  of  the  tongue  vowels,"  and  "  back  of 
the  tongue  vowels."  He  does  not  mean  that  the  whole 
tongue  or  the  whole  mouth  is  not  concerned  in  the  pro- 
duction of  these  vowels,  but  simply  that  the  different 
vowels  are  primarily  distinguished  by  action  at  the 
particular  part  of  the  tongue  named,  the  rest  of  the 
tongue  acting  passively  in  the  general  shaping  of 
the  passage.  The  definite  action  of  a  part  and  the 
passive  opening  of  the  rest  are  necessary  to  the  pro- 
duction of  any  particular  vowel. 

II.  SPEECH  ELEMENTS  AND  THEIR  SYMBOLS. 

The  elements  of  speech  have  been  divided  usually 
into  vowels  and  consonants;  but  this  division  is  not 
complete.  Professor  Bell,  for  example,  notes  another 
class  of  elements  in  everyday  speech  called  "  glides." 

What  are  the  differences  between  these  elements? 

i  Published  by  the  Volta  Bureau,  Thirty-fifth  St.,  Washington,  D.  C. 


MOULDING  TONE   INTO   WORDS  4°3 

The  vowels  are  the  most  important.  The  word  vowel 
comes  from  the  same  root  as  "  voice."  Voice  always 
reveals  itself  primarily  in  vowels.  A  human  being  can 
make  scarcely  any  vocal  sound,  or  cry,  which  may  not 
be  a  vowel  sound. 

In  the  vowel  the  tone  passage  should  be  as  open  as 
possible.  Changes  from  vowel  to  vowel  are  due  simply 
to  the  shaping  of  the  tone  passage  by  the  action  of  the 
tongue,  and  sometimes,  in  addition  to  this,  by  the  action 
of  the  lips,  or  even  the  soft  palate. 

Dr.  Graham  Bell  distinguishes  at  least  two  chambers 
in  the  mouth,  and  illustrates  the  subject  in  a  simple  way. 
Holding  the  tongue  and  lips  in  position  for  the  vowel 
"  e,"  he  places  a  pencil  in  such  a  way  as  to  indicate, 
when  it  is  thumped  by  his  fingers,  the  pitch  of  the  front 
chamber  which  is  high.  He  next  places  the  pencil  on 
the  throat  in  such  a  way  as  to  communicate  with  the  back 
chamber.  A  stroke  on  the  pencil  shows  a  low  pitch. 
He  then  changes  the  vowel  to  "  oo,"  and  shows  that  the 
pitches  of  the  two  chambers  are  reversed,  the  front  hav- 
ing a  lower  pitch  and  the  back  a  higher. 

This  experiment  shows  that  there  is  a  small  chamber 
in  front  in  the  vowel  "  e,"  and  a  large  one  in  the  back, 
but  the  reverse  in  "  615."  In  general  it  has  been  proved 
that  vowels  are  produced  by  the  shape  of  the  tone  pas- 
sage, due  to  degrees  of  elevation  or  widening  of  various 
parts  of  the  tongue. 

A  consonant,  as  indicated  by  its  etymology,  "  sound- 
ing with,"  is  something  that  is  always  joined  to  a  vowel. 
It  cannot  furnish  a  complete  syllable.  The  vowel  is  open 
and  syllabic ;  the  consonant  is  the  sudden  juxtaposition, 
more  or  less  close,  at  the  same  point  of  the  tone  passage, 
and  an  immediate  return  from  this  into  a  vowel  position, 
or  into  a  passive  condition  of  the  organs. 

The  points  at  which  juxtaposition  of  the  organs  may 
occur  in  the  production  of  consonants  are  the  approach 


4°4  MIND   AND   VOICE 

and  separation  of  the  lips,  the  lower  lip  against  the  upper 
teeth,  the  tip  of  the  tongue  against  the  upper  teeth  or 
the  hard  palate,  the  middle  of  the  tongue  and  the  back 
of  the  tongue  against  the  palate,  the  soft  palate  against 
the  back  of  the  tongue.  Some  languages  have  other 
elements,  but  these  are  found  hi  English. 

A  consonant  demands  definite  and  sudden  activity 
followed  by  immediate  recoil  or  passivity  of  some  organ 
or  its  parts.  There  is  no  antagonism  between  a  conso- 
nant and  a  vowel  in  good  speech;  but  in  faulty  speech 
unnecessary  labor  and  constriction  cause  antagonism. 
While  the  actions  are  in  direct  opposition  and  seemingly 
imply  antagonism,  yet  definite  consonant  action  is  a 
help  and  not  a  hindrance  to  right  vowel  action.  For 
example,  a  decided  action  at  the  tip  of  the  tongue  in 
"  d  "  is  followed  by  a  sudden  recoil  into  any  vowel 
position.  Though  the  front  of  the  tongue  acts  in  "  e  " 
and  the  tip  in  "  d,"  yet  the  syllable  "  de  "  can  be  pro- 
nounced as  easily  as  "  e  "  alone.  A  consonant  properly 
produced  never  interferes  with  nor  obstructs  a  vowel. 

The  difference  between  a  vowel  and  a  consonant  may 
be  illustrated  by  those  elements  in  which  the  positions 
are  close.  For  example,  in  "  woo,"  the  "  oo  "  and  the 
"  w  "  have  the  same  organs,  the  lips  round  and  the  back 
of  the  tongue  high  with  the  front  of  the  tongue  relaxed; 
but  in  the  vowel  all  is  open  for  the  free  passage  of  tone, 
while  in  the  "  w  "  there  is  such  a  juxtaposition  of  the 
lips  as  to  cause  a  buzzing  sound  or  obstructed  vibration. 
In  passing  from  "  w  "  to  "  oo,"  the  lips  merely  open 
and  the  buzzing  vibration  gives  place  to  a  perfectly  free 
emission  of  sound  waves. 

In  the  same  way  in  "  ye  "  the  tongue  is  elevated  in 
"  y  "  at  the  centre,  and  opens  suddenly  from  the  roof 
of  the  mouth.  In  "  e  "  the  tongue  is  in  the  same  position 
except  that  there  is  greater  openness  at  the  top. 

What  is  meant  by  a  "  glide?  "     Take  our  so-called 


MOULDING   TONE   INTO    WORDS  405 

long  "  a,"  as  in  "  fate."  A  Scotchman  speaks  this  vowel 
differently  from  an  Englishman.  They  may  start  the 
vowel  in  exactly  the  same  position,  but  the  Scotchman's 
tongue  does  not  change,  while  with  the  Englishman 
there  is  a  change  and  the  tongue  glides  toward  the  "  y  " 
position.  Some  will  have  more  glide  than  others,  but 
in  correct  English  the  glide  is  an  essential  part  of  this 
vowel.  A  glide  toward  "  w  "  is  also  found  in  "  o." 

Between  a  vowel  and  the  letter  "  r  "  in  English  there 
is  a  glide,  in  fact,  when  we  have  "  r  "  at  the  end  of  a 
syllable,  the  tongue  passes  from  the  vowel  position  in 
the  direction  of  the  percussive  "  r,"  but  hardly  comes 
in  contact  with  the  roof  of  the  mouth.  In  correct  Eng- 
lish final  "  r  "  is  now  always  a  glide. 

The  glides  are  of  great  importance  in  studying 
dialect,  and  in  correcting  dialectic  peculiarities  and 
faults.  Every  language  has  certain  glides  marking  the 
native  speaker,  which  are  the  last  to  be  mastered  by  the 
foreigner. 

III.   VOWELS. 

That  a  vowel  is  produced  by  the  shape  of  the  mouth 
can  easily  be  illustrated  to  the  satisfaction  of  everyone 
by  an  experiment. 

Take  a  common  jewsharp,  and  sound  it,  while  holding 
the  tongue  and  lips  in  different  vowel  positions,  and 
note  the  effect. 

Take  the  vowel  "  e  "  as  in  "  eel,"  and  notice  that 
the  front  of  the  tongue  is  as  high  as  it  can  be  raised  and 
at  the  same  time  give  openness  to  the  vowel.  Then 
passing  from  this  long  "  e  "  to  "  a  "  in  "  ale,"  it  will  be 
noticed  that  the  front  of  the  tongue  is  lower  in  so-called 
long  "  a  ; »  it  is  still  lower  down  at  "  e  "  as  in  "  ell." 

Accordingly,  we  have  a  class  of  vowels  due  to  the  ele- 
vation or  lowering  of  the  front  of  the  tongue.  Pro- 
fessor Bell  finds  an  additional  action;  a  widening  of  the 


406  MIND   AND   VOICE 

tongue  at  certain  positions.  Next  to  "  e  "  as  in  "  eel  " 
is  "  i  "  as  in  "  ill,"  in  which  there  is  not  only  a  lowering 
but  a  widening  of  the  front  of  the  tongue;  and  next  is 
long  "  a,"  as  in  "  ale,"  and  a  widening  at  the  point  gives 
us  "  a  "  as  in  "  care,"  a  sound  in  English  always  found 
before  "  r."  A  still  further  lowering  of  the  tongue  pro- 
duces the  so-called  "  short  e  "  as  in  "  ell,"  and  a  widen- 
ing with  a  lowering  of  the  tongue,  as  low  as  it  can  be 
placed,  with  the  front  of  the  tongue  action,  gives  us 
"  short  a  "  as  in  "  hat  "  or  "  shall." 

In  studying  vowels  made  with  the  back  of  the  tongue, 
we  find  a  tendency  in  all  languages  to  simultaneous  modi- 
fication of  the  vowel  chambers  by  the  lips.  As  we  lift 
the  back  of  the  tongue  high,  we  bring  the  lips  into  a 
rounded  position  and  produce  our  so-called  long  "  oo  " 
as  in  "  pool."  The  widening  of  the  back  of  the  tongue 
brings  us  to  "  short  oo,"  as  in  "  foot  "  or  "  pull." 

A  still  greater  lowering  of  the  tongue  and  the  natu- 
ral increase  of  the  openness  at  the  lips,  brings  us  to  our 
"  long  o  "  as  in  "  pole,"  and  a  widening  of  this,  as 
heard  in  some  speakers,  though  rarely  used  at  the  pre- 
sent time  as  a  sound,  comes  before  the  letter  "  r  "  as 
in  the  word  "  sword."  Further  lowering  of  the  back  of 
the  tongue,  and  widening  of  the  lip  action  gives  us 
"  broad  a,"  as  in  "  all  "  or  "Paul."  A  lowering  of  the 
back  of  the  tongue  to  the  lowest  possible  position,  and 
widening  with  a  small  rounding  at  the  lips,  gives  us 
"  short  o  "  as  in  "  poll,"  "  doll,"  or  "  not." 

While  in  English  the  only  vowels  that  have  any  modi- 
fication by  the  lips  are  these  "  back  of  the  tongue  " 
vowels,  this  is  not  true  in  other  languages.  The  French 
"  long  u,"  for  example,  is  our  "  long  e,"  with  the  lips 
rounded.  Professor  Bell  considered  the  German  "  u  " 
equivalent  to  our  "  short  i,"  with  the  lips  rounded. 

These  actions  of  the  organs  of  speech  should  receive 
careful  attention  in  studying  a  foreign  language.  Local 


MOULDING  TONE   INTO   WORDS  407 

observation  of  the  production  of  an  element  is  a  scien- 
tific method  in  mastering  the  most  difficult  of  languages. 

The  "  middle  of  the  tongue  "  vowels  are  fewer  in 
nearly  all  languages,  and  naturally  are  the  least  noticed. 
The  most  prominent  one  in  English  is  the  sound  in 
"  the  "  when  followed  by  a  word  beginning  with  a  con- 
sonant. The  true  nature  of  this  sound  is  not  even  rec- 
ognized by  the  dictionaries.  Some  authorities  make 
it  "  short  i,"  others  "  short  u,"  but  it  is  certainly  neither. 
It  is  a  "  middle  of  the  tongue  vowel,  and  practically 
the  same  as  the  "  e  "  of  le  in  le  cheval  in  French. 
Professor  Bell  thought  that  in  the  French  sound  the 
tongue  was  a  little  higher  than  in  the  English. 

Another  important  "  middle  of  the  tongue "  vowel 
is  "  a  "  as  in  "  ask."  We  hear  it  in  the  second  "  a  " 
in  the  word  "  fatal."  An  unaccented  short  "  a "  is 
nearly  always  this  sound.  Notice,  for  example,  the  dif- 
ferent sounds  of  "  a  "  in  the  two  "  thats  "  in  the  following 
sentence:  "I  tell  you  that  that  is  true."  The  second 
"  a  "  has  the  sound  of  "  short  a,"  but  the  first  "  a " 
has  the  decided  "  middle  of  the  tongue "  action. 
This  shows  that  the  dictionary  sounds  of  words  are  not 
always  the  sound  of  speech.  The  best  speakers  change 
the  vowel  sounds  to  a  certain  extent.  For  example, 
"  Two  men  went  up  into  the  Temple  to  pray."  Accord- 
ing to  the  dictionary  we  have  here  three  words  all  with 
"  long  oo."  But  anyone  will  perceive,  if  he  watches  care- 
fully, that  no  good  speaker  ever  utters  the  three  words 
in  this  way.  The  first  has  "  long  oo,"  but  the  others 
"  short  oo." 

Another  important  "  middle  of  the  tongue  "  vowel  is 
"  e  "  as  in  the  word  "  mercy."  This  is  a  specially  im- 
perfect vowel  in  America.  Dr.  Graham  Bell  used  to 
say  that  it  is  the  laziest  vowel  in  the  language,  demand- 
ing only  a  passive  tongue  through  its  whole  breath,  and 
made  by  every  animal  except  the  American  biped. 


4<>8  MIND   AND   VOICE 

It  is  extremely  difficult  at  times  to  develop  correct 
action  of  this  vowel.  .It  can  be  best  secured  by  giving 
"  a,"  and  passing  the  tongue  to  "  short  a,"  making  a 
continuous  sound.  The  tongue  must  necessarily  pass 
through  the  right  position  for  this  vowel.  Some  insist 
that  the  difference  between  "  short  u  "  and  this  vowel 
should  be  indicated  in  the  two  words  "  fur  "  and  "  fir." 
The  word  "  church,"  which,  of  course,  has  this  vowel, 
is  considered  by  some  as  a  shibboleth  or  test  of  a  culti- 
vated man. 

In  English  we  have  two  "  back  of  the  tongue  "  vowels, 
unmodified  by  the  lips,  —  short  "  u  "  as  in  "  dull,"  and 
the  vowel  sound  in  "  palm,"  called  Italian  "  a,"  possibly 
because  so  common  in  that  language.  It  is  the  first  letter 
in  all  Indo-European  languages,  perhaps  because  the 
mouth  is  most  open  and  normal  in  producing  it,  and  hence 
is  called  the  "  mother  vowel."  It  is  imperfectly  produced 
in  America.  In  American  speech  the  back  of  the  tongue  in 
sounding  the  vowel  is  often  high  or  constricted,  and  some 
have  gone  so  far  as  to  call  it  our  most  imperfect  vowel. 

Removal  of  constriction  from  the  position  of  this  vowel 
nearly  always  results  from  a  mastery  of  the  steps  so  far 
undertaken.  The  reason  that  the  back  of  the  tongue 
is  high  is  because  of  constriction  of  the  pharynx  and  a 
lack  of  true  co-ordination  between  the  activity  of  breath- 
ing and  passivity  or  openness  of  the  tone  passage. 

This  vowel  "  a  "  is  the  most  natural  and  common  in 
all  exclamations,  especially  in  those  of  pleasure  or 
laughter.  It  is  the  vowel  used  by  nearly  all  great  vocal 
trainers,  because  it  implies  the  fullest  relaxation  and 
openness  of  the  tone  passage.  The  faults  in  this  vowel 
are  due  to  constrictions  of  the  pharynx.  One  of  the  first 
signs  in  voice  improvement  or  mastery  of  co-ordination 
of  the  passivity  of  the  throat  with  activity  in  the  middle 
of  the  body,  is  the  greater  openness  and  freedom  of  this 
vowel. 


MOULDING  TONE   INTO   WORDS  409 

IV-    CONSONANTS. 

The  peculiar  action  of  consonants  implies  definite 
juxtaposition  of  two  organs,  as,  for  example,  the  lips 
in  "  p."  Sometimes  the  organs  do  not  close  the  pas- 
sage completely,  as  in  "  w,"  or  again,  the  passage  is 
divided,  as  in  the  letter  "  1,"  where  the  voice  escapes 
over  the  sides  of  the  tongue. 

A  definite  analysis  of  all  the  possible  consonants  in 
the  language  will  be  found  in  Professor  Bell's  books.  All 
that  need  be  noted  here  is  an  examination  of  the  simplest 
actions  of  the  organs. 

Various  classifications  of  consonants  have  been  given; 
such  as  labials,  dentals,  and  linguals;  but  these  are 
hardly  adequate.  In  the  dentals,  for  example,  the  teeth 
are  passive;  they  call  for  the  action  of  another  and  far 
more  important  organ. 

The  only  division  of  great  consequence  is  that 
between  voice  and  breath  consonants.  "  P,"  for 
example,  is  a  breath  and  "  b  "  a  voice  consonant.  In 
breath  consonants  the  pharynx  seems  to  be  more  con- 
cerned, and  hi  voice  consonants  action  of  the  vocal  bands 
is  added.  We  can  indicate  the  difference  in  a  whisper, 
but  even  if  this  is  done  between  the  breath  and  the  voice 
consonant  there  is  a  vocal  band  action  in  a  whisper  in 
giving  "  b  "  that  is  absent  in  giving  "p." 

The  student  should  analyze  his  own  speech  and  that 
of  others,  and  be  able  to  give  all  the  consonants  correctly. 
Phonetic  spelling  is  important.  Most  persons  are  unable 
to  recognize  the  simple  sounds.  So  little  attention  is 
given  to  speech  that  even  educated  men  of  our  times 
do  not  know  the  sounds  of  their  language. 

Among  the  great  needs  of  education  are  vocal  exer- 
cises. They  have  been  shown  to  be  a  most  important 
means  of  motor  training.  They  should  relate  to  a  defi- 
nite study  of  elemental  sounds.  The  various  schemes 


410  MIND    AND   VOICE 

for  the  reform  of  spelling  appear  ludicrous  when  we  no- 
tice the  mistakes  made  in  sound  analysis.  From  time 
to  time  a  periodical  has  been  issued  printed  phonetically 
but  the  principal  value  of  this  has  been  unintentional 
on  the  part  of  the  reformers.  It  has  shown  how  far  we 
are  from  understanding  the  nature  and  number  of  ele- 
mental sounds  of  our  language. 

What  are  some  of  the  sounds  forgotten  in  teaching 
language?  What  is  the  sound  represented  by  "  h  "  in 
"  hue?  "  It  is  not  "  h  ";  otherwise  the  word  would  be 
"  hoo."  It  is  a  breath  "  y."  We  say  that  the  German 
consonant  in  the  word  "  ich  "  is  not  found  in  English. 
But  the  fact  is  that  it  is  not  found  in  English  at  the  end  of 
a  word,  though  the  same  sound  is  in  the  word  "  hue." 
In  English  we  have  it  at  the  beginning  of  a  word,  and  in 
German  at  the  end  of  a  word.  We  have  the  same  sound 
in  the  word  "  tune,"  though  it  is  quite  short  on  account 
of  its  coming  between  "  t  "  and  a  vowel. 

Again,  what  is  the  consonant  sound  in  "  why? " 
Some  of  our  "  unabridged  "  dictionaries  discuss  whether 
the  "  h  "  comes  before  the  "  w  "  or  after  it.  But  there 
is  no  "  h  "  in  "  why."  "  Wh  "  is  only  a  breath  "  w." 
The  difference  between  "  ten  "  and  "  den  "  is  not  in 
the  position  of  the  organs.  "  T  "  is  a  breath  consonant 
and  "  d  "  a  voice  consonant,  and  the  same  is  true  of 
"  wh  "  and  "  w  "  in  "  whine  "  and  "  wine."  A  breath 
consonant  when  unobstructed  is  prominent,  and  the 
prominence  of  the  breath  in  a  continuous  letter  makes 
us  think  of  "h."  The  "h"  often  is  only  a  sign  of 
breath. 

The  first  letters  in  the  words  "  thy  "  and  "  thigh  " 
have  no  kinship  whatever  either  to  "  h  "  or  to  "  t." 
They  form  definite  elements  for  which  we  have  no  sym- 
bols in  English.  The  two  sounds  are  distinct  as  "  t " 
and  "  d  "  or  "  s  "  and  "  z."  One  is  a  breath  consonant 
and  the  other  the  corresponding  voice  consonant. 


MOULDING   TONE    INTO    WORDS  411 

"  L  "  has  been  regarded  by  many  as  having  no  co- 
ordinate breath  consonant,  but  there  is,  of  course,  a 
difference  between  the  "1"  in  "lay"  and  that  in 
"  play  "  or  in  "  blow  "  and  "  flow,"  or  in  "  glow  "  and 
"  slow."  According  to  Professor  Ellis  "  1,"  after  a  breath 
consonant,  changes  halfway  through  from  a  breath  con- 
sonant to  a  voice. 


XXXI.     DEVELOPMENT  OF  ARTICULATION 

A  valuable  aid  to  the  student  in  recognizing  the  sounds 
of  his  own  language,  is  the  spelling  phonetically  of  some 
simple  sentence,  making  sure  always  to  use  the  same 
sign  for  the  same  sound.  For  example,  "  o  "  hi  "  not  " 
should  always  be  given  by  this  sign  and  not  "  a  "  in 
"  what  "  with  a  dot  under  it. 

It  is  sometimes  amusing  to  ask  college  graduates  to 
record  by  simple  symbols  the  way  they  themselves 
pronounce  some  familiar  words.  Recognition  of  sounds 
by  the  ear  and  producing  them  by  the  voice  should 
begin  early  hi  life;  otherwise,  it  is  difficult  to  develop 
voice  or  speech. 

There  are  few  subjects  so  misunderstood  as  the  de- 
velopment of  articulation.  The  exercises  commonly 
adopted  for  this  purpose  cause  constriction  and  hard- 
ness. Both  tone  and  speech  are  often  injured  on  ac- 
count of  mistakes  regarding  the  nature  of  speech. 

The  chief  mistake  has  been  made  in  regard  to  con- 
sonants. The  work  of  articulation,  even  with  little 
children,  has  been  mainly  directed,  not  to  securing 
good  tone  as  material  of  speech,  not  to  development  of 
free  open  vowels,  but  to  getting  vigorous  consonants. 
The  result  has  been  labored,  constricted  speech  with  a 
narrowing  and  squeezing  of  the  vowels. 

The  whole  syllable  or  word,  with  its  consonants  and 
vowels,  starts  as  one  with  the  breath  from  the  diaphragm, 


412  MIND   AND   VOICE 

and  as  tone  from  the  larynx.  The  elements  are  shaped, 
separated,  or  discriminated  only  in  the  mouth. 

The  first  requisite  for  good  spee.cn  must  accordingly 
be  rich  and  full  material.  While  the  organs  must  act 
definitely  this  action  must  not  be  labored,  and  it  will 
always  be  more  nearly  adequate  when  there  are  full 
sound  waves  or  primary  vibrations  and  many  overtones 
and  secondary  vibrations  from  the  chest  and  body 
which  can  receive  special  sympathetic  variations  from 
the  organs  of  speech. 

As  all  change  in  vowels  is  simply  the  result  of  modi- 
fications of  the  secondary  vibrations,  richness  of  these 
is  first  necessary.  In  a  sense  they  are  basic  since  they 
furnish  material  for  articulation. 

Work  on  the  organs  of  speech  to  obtain  consonant 
action  without  voice  may  introduce  serious  faults. 
Such  work  narrows  the  tone  passage  and  is  one  cause 
of  the  hardness  and  constriction  of  the  American  voice. 
No  articulating  action  must  ever  interfere  with  the 
primary  conditions  of  tone  or  lessen  the  number  and 
harmony  of  secondary  vibrations. 

From  these  facts  we  now  see  that  not  only  must  vocal 
training  precede  development  of  articulation,  but  that 
vowels  must  be  developed  before  consonants  and  must 
underlie  the  whole  word.  Even  that  which  begins  with 
a  breath  consonant,  as  we  1  as  the  most  breathy  of  con- 
sonants, a  sibilant,  demands  the  immediate  support  of 
a  vowel  or  it  will  become  a  mere  disagreeable  hiss.  A 
consonant  must  always  be  as  definite  as  possible  that 
the  whole  word  may  be  felt  with  the  vowel.  The 
vowel  is  the  soul  of  the  word,  the  consonant  but  a 
garment. 

I  discovered  this  principle  in  teaching  stammerers. 
The  stammerer  endeavors  to  make  his  consonants  stand 
alone,  and  one  of  the  steps,  as  will  be  explained  more 
fully  in  a  book  on  "  Stammering,"  requires  the  de- 


MOULDING  TONE   INTO   WORDS  413 

velopment  of  the  power  to  speak  "  out  of  the  vowel  "  to 
float  the  consonants,  so  to  speak,  on  a  stream  of  vowel 
sound. 

This  particular  fault,  however,  is  not  distinctively 
characteristic  of  stammering.  In  most  educated  men 
there  is  an  exaggeration  of  consonants,  and  the  vowel 
is  frequently  weak  and  indefinite.  The  sound  lacks 
richness  and  fullness;  the  roundness  and  resonance 
which  belong  to  ideal  speech  being  often  displaced  by 
mere  consonant  constriction. 

The  greatest  need  with  most  persons  is  not  consonant 
but  vowel  action.  There  is  little  use  in  working  upon 
consonants  until  the  vowels  are  made  open  and  free. 
Then  that  peculiar  harmony  and  balance  of  consonant 
and  vowel,  which  is  the  fundamental  characteristic  of 
true  speech,  will  naturally  follow. 

The  true  improvement  of  vowel  action  requires  first 
of  all  enlargement  of  the  vowel  chambers.  Hence,  the 
preliminary  step  in  improving  the  vowels  must  be  asso- 
ciated with  co-ordination  or  the  fundamental  principle 
of  tone  production.  Correctness  of  position  will  be  best 
secured  by  work  in  enlargement  instead  of  by  manipula- 
tion. The  whole  mouth  and  tone  passage  must  be 
opened.  It  will  then  be  discovered  that  the  more  free 
and  open  the  tone  passage  the  more  likely  will  the 
organs  be  to  assume  correct  positions  and  perform 
definite  elemental  actions. 

Truly  good  speech  must  be  as  free  and  relaxed  as 
possible,  and  to  secure  openness  requires  first  of  all 
relaxation  and  mastery  of  the  fundamental  principle 
of  co-ordination.  This  openness  is  not  only  needed 
by  the  vowel  but  by  the  consonants.  Since  a  conso- 
nant requires  the  contact  of  the  organs,  followed  by  an 
immediate  separation,  the  wider  the  recoil  the  better 
will  be  the  consonant.  This  recoil  is  as  much  an  essen- 
tial part  of  the  consonant  as  its  right  action.  Even  its 


4^4  MIND   AND   VOICE 

definite  action  or  position  must  be  as  momentary  as 
possible  and  recoil  into  the  following  vowel  or  into 
passivity. 

Good  speech  is  in  the  mouth,  not  in  the  throat.  The 
throat  is  the  tone  passage,  and  the  centre  of  the  sec- 
ondary vibrations  for  tone,  but  the  modulation  of  tone 
into  speech  calls  for  the  free  action  of  the  tongue  and 
this  hi  turn  requires  an  open  mouth  chamber.  The 
tongue  must  have  room  also  to  come  into  contact  with 
the  hard  palate  and  upper  teeth  and  to  recoil  into  the 
vowel  positions.  Openness  of  the  tone  passage  is  ac- 
cordingly the  first  step  for  articulation.  Before  it  can 
be  improved  the  heavy  muscles  of  the  pharynx  and 
even  of  the  jaw  must  be  relaxed  by  co-ordination  with 
breathing. 

Nasality,  throatiness,  flatness,  hardness,  and  huski- 
ness  must  be  corrected  by  work  upon  tone  production, 
before  the  actual  work  of  improving  speech  can  be 
begun.  We  can  easily  see  that  the  qualities  of  good 
speech  are  the  same  as  those  of  good  tone,  openness, 
freedom  from  any  interference,  or  constriction,  and 
richness  hi  vibration.  When  the  tone  begins  to  im- 
prove, the  principle  and  the  exercise  should  at  once 
be  applied  to  opening  and  enlarging  the  vowels. 

Folio  whig  the  mastery  of  the  primary  conditions,  ex- 
_  .  ercises  should  now  be  introduced  when 

Exercise  102. 

£fd^ofeaw  necessarY  f°r  agility  of  the  jaw,  such  as  "  fa," 
"  la,"  or  "  alpha,"  "(beta,"  "gamma,"  "  delta," 
given  with  a  quick  repetition  and  with  the  vowels  as 
large  and  open  as  possible.  This  secures  flexibility  of 
the  jaw  or  rather  develops  its  power  to  drop  out  of  the 
way  of  the  tongue. 

Another  exercise  is  "  va,  tha."  In  "  va  "  the  lower 
lip  has  to  rise  against  the  upper  teeth;  in  "  tha  "  the  tip 
of  the  tongue.  Keep  as  open  as  possible  the  vowel  and 
the  whole  mouth  chamber  by  developing  the  jaw  and 


MOULDING   TONE   INTO    WORDS  415 

tongue  as  a  part  of  the  primary  co-ordination.  Develop 
agility  of  the  organs  in  parsing  to  their  most  open  or 
relaxed  condition. 

Holding  the  jaw  relaxed  and  the  tone  passage  as 
open  as  possible,  change  to  "  la,"  "  tha,"  and  other 
combinations,  giving  these  syllables  rhythmically  with 
no  action  other  than  that  of  the  tongue.  Such  practice 
requires  study  of  the  action  of  the  organs  in  producing 
the  different  elements. 

Many  faults  of  speech  can  easily  be  remedied  by  a 
few  moments1  observation  of  the  production  of  ele- 
ments. A  little  child  may  say  "  free  "  for  "  three," 
but  if  you  tell  him  to  put  out  his  tongue  and  say  "  three  " 
he  is  likely  to  get  the  correct  position  of  the  organs.  I 
have  known  a  single  correction  to  be  sufficient;  but 
constantly  blaming  a  child  for  a  fault  without  showing 
him  the  way  to  correct  it  will  make  it  worse. 

Good  speech  should  be  exact.  Each  element  should 
have  its  distinct  character  unmixed  with  that  of  any 
other  element. 

Parts  should  move  only  when  necessary.  Every 
element  is  produced  by  a  simple  delicate  action,  for 
example,  "  th  "  in  "  thy  "  requires  the  tip  of  the  tongue 
against  the  upper  teeth,  but  no  one  can  place  the  thumb 
and  finger  under  the  jaw  between  the  larynx  and  the 
chin,  in  a  throaty  voice,  without  finding  that  the  whole 
tongue  has  been  brought  into  activity,  if  not  the  muscles 
in  the  pharynx.  The  swallowing  muscles  are  active. 
This  not  only  makes  the  tone  throaty,  but  this  element 
thick  and  labored,  for  the  local  use  of  the  tip,  or  any 
part  of  the  tongue,  will  not  be  free. 

In  good  speech,  therefore,  every  part  must  discharge 
its  own  function  without  interfering  with  adjacent 
parts.  The  muscles  employed  in  swallowing  are  never 
used  in  tone  production  or  in  speech. 

An  important  step  in  developing  the  organs  of  speech 


MIND   AND   VOICE 

is  the  ability  to  separate  the  action  of  the  tongue  from 
the  jaw. 

Relax  the  jaw  and  tongue  as  much  as  possible,  and 
Exercise  io3.  give  the  vowel  "  ah."  Then  lift  the  tongue 
%SSfaJ£n-  to  the  position  for  "  e,"  being  sure  that  only 
the  tongue  rises,  and  that  the  position  is  not 
made  by  action  of  the  jaw.  Alternate  these  quickly. 
There  must  be  no  constriction.  Patience  will  be  re- 
quired to  master  the  exercise,  the  jaw  being  kept  re- 
laxed during  the  emission  of  the  vowel.  These  two 
vowels  are  extreme.  In  "  ah  "  the  tongue  is  lowest 
and  in  "  e  "  it  is  highest  or  rather  the  front  part.  The 
tongue  is  called  upon,  therefore,  to  go  from  one  extreme 
to  another,  and  on  account  of  this  leap  its  independent 
action  is  developed  by  the  practice  and  this  will  grad- 
ually free  it  from  the  jaw  and  develop  openness  or 
enlargement  of  the  vowel  chambers. 

Freedom  of  the  tongue  can  best  be  tested  by  its 
power  to  give  such  vowel  positions  independent  of  the 
jaw  action.  Later,  the  exercise  may  be  modified  by 
placing  some  other  vowel  between  the  "  e  "  and  "  ah," 
such  as  long  "  a  "  giving  it  a  dactyllic  rhythm.  "  L  "  or 
some  consonant  may  also  be  placed  before  these  vowels. 
Similar  exercises  if  necessary  can  be  arranged  for  other 
vowels  and  consonants. 

A  consonant  must  be  definite  and  not  labored.  The 
action  must  be  at  one  instant  and  by  one  definite  part, 
the  other  parts  being  kept  relaxed  and  out  of  the  way. 
Each  agent  must  act  in  accordance  with  the  principle 
that  each  part  must  act  without  interfering  with  its 
neighbors.  Good  speech  must  be  correct;  that  is,  each 
element  must  be  made  correctly.  The  right  organ 
must  act,  and  in  the  right  way. 

Good  speech  demands  the  union  of  vowel  and  con- 
sonant; it  must  be  "  out  of  the  vowel."  The  vowel, 
not  the  consonant,  is  the  centre  of  speech.  A  word 


MOULDING  TONE   INTO   WORDS  417 

should  be  filled  with  the  vowel  sound  and  the  accented 
vowel  should  bring  all  the  other  syllables  rhythmically 
around  it. 

In  the  moulding  of  tone  into  speech,  we  find  that  the 
highest  quality  is  openness.  No  matter  what  the  con- 
sonant action,  no  matter  what  organs  are  brought  into 
juxtaposition,  they  must  come  together  so  quickly  and 
return  so  decidedly  that  there  is  no  obstruction  what- 
ever to  the  free  openness  of  the  vibration.  The  utter- 
ance of  a  word  is  continuous.  The  word  starts  with 
the  breath  then  it  becomes  tone  and  last  is  moulded 
into  word  or  phrase  as  it  passes  through  the  mouth.  A 
syllable  is  one  impulse  of  the  voice.  It  has  one  defi- 
nite vowel  modulation  with  its  moulding  consonants, 
but  the  whole  word,  or  phrase,  has  one  impulse  from 
the  lungs  and  this  unity  of  impulse  is  of  great 
moment.  Words  and  phrases  in  a  pleasing  speaker 
have  rhythmic  unity.  The  one  impulse  supports  the 
whole  phrase,  and  all  parts  are  easily  modulated. 

Practice  "va,"  ula,"  "tha,"  "da,"  and  other  syllables 
as  starts.  Give  the  initial  consonants  fully,  _ 

iirfXcrcisc  1 04-. 

quickly   and   definitely,    with   the  vowel  as  initiation  of 
open  as  possible. 

Certain  phases  of  initiation  of  tone  must  apply 
tone  conditions  to  speech.  These  should  be  applied 
at  the  time  or  reviewed  now.  Unless  the  open, 
free  tone  is  immediately  used  or  carried  forward  into 
the  openness  of  the  articulation,  habitual  constrictions 
in  the  mouth  and  narrow  vowels  will  defeat  co-ordina- 
tion between  the  diaphragm  and  pharynx.  Open  speech 
and  open  tone  are  necessarily  secured  together.  The 
co-ordination  between  diaphragm  and  pharynx  opens 
the  mouth  also  and  must  be  the  very  first  step  hi  im- 
proving speech.  Sometimes  the  speech  begins  to  open 
as  a  result  of  the  openness  of  tone ;  when  it  does  not, 
work  in  articulation  must  begin  earlier. 


418  MIND   AND   VOICE 

These  or  similar  exercises  should  be  introduced  in 
connection  with  the  initial  exercises  for  respiratory 
and  pharyngeal  co-ordination.  The  mouth  is  a  part  of 
the  tone  passage,  and  a  large  full  open  vowel  is  one  of 
the  most  important  exercises. 

Vowels  should  also  be  practiced  especially  inflexional 
initiations  with  final  consonants.  Be  sure  that  the 
tongue  returns  to  a  reposeful  relaxed  position  with  the 
tip  against  the  lower  teeth.  The  immediate  recoil  of 
the  organs  is  a  most  important  point  in  developing 
right  consonant  action.  This  is  especially  true  of  the 
tongue.  Repose  of  the  tongue  is  most  difficult  to  secure 
in  vowel  production  and  its  recoil  into  passivity  after 
consonant  action. 

Notice  that  all  but  one  of  the  vowels  in  the  following 
words  are  short;  but  observe  that  these  can  be  open 
and  free.  Allow  no  vowel  to  become  constricted,  nar- 
row, or  limited  in  quantity. 

"  Joy  is  not  in  things,  it  is  in  us." 

Charles  Wagner. 

Render  passages  full  of  life,  and  not  only  accentuate 
preparatory  conditions  of  voice  but  have  the  vowels  as 
large  and  open  as  possible.  Be  sure  that  the  vibrations 
of  the  voice  in  the  vowel  fill  the  whole  word. 

THE  RHODORA. 

In  May,  when  sea-winds  pierced  our  solitudes, 

I  found  the  fresh  Rhodora  in  the  woods, 

Spreading  its  leafless  blooms  in  a  damp  nook, 

To  please  the  desert  and  the  sluggish  brook. 

The  purple  petals  fallen  in  the  pool 

Made  the  black  water  with  their  beauty  gay; 

Here  might  the  red-bird  come  his  plumes  to  cool, 

And  court  the  flower  that  cheapens  his  array. 

Rhodora!  if  the  sages  ask  thee  why 

This  charm  is  wasted  on  the  earth  and  sky, 


MOULDING  TONE   INTO    WORDS  419 

Tell  them,  dear,  that,  if  eyes  were  made  for  seeing, 
Then  beauty  is  its  own  excuse  for  being; 
Why  thou  wert  there,  O  rival  of  the  rose ! 
I  never  thought  to  ask;  I  never  knew; 
But  in  my  simple  ignorance  suppose 
The  self-same  power  that  brought  me  here  brought  you. 

Emerson. 

XXXII.     VOCAL  QUANTITY  AND  PRONUNCIATION 

Enunciation  stands  for  proper  moulding  of  sounds 
into  words  by  right  action  of  the  proper  organs.  Articu- 
lation applies  more  definitely  to  consonants,  though  the 
word  is  also  used  in  reference  to  vowels  and  correct 
production  of  all  elements.  The  word  "pronunciation" 
implies  accent  and  vocal  quantity  and  accordingly  has 
the  most  direct  reference  to  the  common  utterance  of 
words  as  wholes. 

Accent  is  important,  as  it  centralizes  the  syllables 
into  words.  As  a  part  of  rhythm  it  is  necessarily  asso- 
ciated with  the  proper  touch  in  speech.  The  difference 
between  accentuation  and  touch  is  that  the  first  refers 
to  the  relation  of  syllables  to  the  word,  and  the  other  to 
the  words  of  a  phrase  with  reference  to  thought.  Ac- 
centuation is  functional,  and  determined  by  custom, 
but  touch  is  a  natural  expression  of  thought.  It  shows 
the  direct  affirmation  of  the  concentration  of  the  mind 
in  speaking  successive  phrases. 

Right  accent  must  be  acquired  by  a  study  of  the 
dictionary,  observation  of  the  best  speakers,  and  by 
developing  the  sense  of  rhythm.  The  process  of  giving 
right  accent  can  be  greatly  helped  by  training  in 
rhythmic  agility. 

Vocal  quantity,  though  often  forgotten,  is  of  prime 
importance  in  pronunciation.  Bad  quantity  causes  bad 
articulation.  One  should  take  a  list  of  words  such  as 
that  published  by  Gardner  in  his  "  Music  of  Nature," 
and  practice  them  in  different  pitches,  observing  the 


420  MIND   AND   VOICE 

musical  quantity  of  the  syllables  and  giving  the  proper 
amount  of  time  to  each  syllable. 

Poor  speech  is  universally  characterized  by  irregu- 
larity in  rhythmic  vocal  quantity,  while  one  of  the  most 
charming  qualities  of  good  speech  is  true  relative  quan- 
tity for  every  syllable. 

Many  persons  think  because  of  the  infinite  variety 
of  quantity  in  English,  that  it  has  no  such  thing.  While 
Greek  and  Latin  verse  is  dependent  upon  the  exact 
quantity  of  syllables  they  think  that  hi  English  all  de- 
pends not  on  this  but  upon  accent. 

While  the  syllables  in  English  words  have  a  great 
variety  in  length,  still,  among  good  speakers,  a  relative 
value  and  proportion  is  given  to  every  syllable  which 
gives  great  beauty  and  clearness  of  utterance  to  the 
language.  When  a  syllable  is  given  with  wrong  quantity, 
as  in  the  pronunciation  of  a  foreigner,  or  a  careless 
speaker,  the  word  may  be  misunderstood. 

The  basis  of  all  true  quantity  is  rhythm.  In  English 
it  is  vitally  related  to  accent.  There  is  a  mysterious  union 
or  co-ordination  between  accent  and  quantity,  not  only 
in  English  verse,  but  in  the  simplest  prose  conversation. 
A  proper  use  of  the  voice,  a  beautiful  pronunciation,  can- 
not be  developed  without  attention  to  this  important  topic. 

If  students  carefully  observe  the  characteristics  of 
sluggish  and  imperfect  speech,  they  will  detect  the  slur- 
ring of  certain  slight  syllables.  With  a  good  speaker 
every  syllable  receives  a  certain  relative  quantity. 

Every  conceivable  irregularity  is  found  in  quantity. 
One  in  particular  may  be  noted,  the  loss  of  the  dactyllic 
rhythm  of  some  of  the  most  beautiful  words  in  the  lan- 
guage. Such  beautiful  dactyls  as  "  library,"  "  family," 
"  beautiful,"  "  dutiful,"  "  syllable,"  "  musical,"  "  quan- 
tity," in  everyday  speech  are  often  turned  into  imper- 
fect trochees  or  spondees,  and  thus  we  hear  "  lib'ry  " 
for  "  library,"  "  fam'ly  "  for  "  family,"  and  so  on. 


MOULDING   TONE   INTO   WORDS  421 

The  most  pleasing  words  and  phrases  in  the  language 
contain  one  or  more  metric  feet.  Notice  the  two  dactyls 
in  "  encyclopedia  "  and  "  Mesopotamia."  How  many 
long  words,  such  as  "impenetrability,"  "incomprehensi- 
bility," bring  in  a  beautiful  combination  of  metric  feet! 
This  instinct  of  rhythm  or  metre  has  no  doubt  had  much 
to  do  with  development  of  accent  primary  and  secon- 
dary in  the  language.  In  English,  as  accent  forms  a 
part  of  the  metric  expression,  we  can  feel  the  difference 
between  its  accent  and  that  of  languages  in  which  metre 
is  a  matter  of  quantity. 

Carelessness  is  especially  seen  in  lack  of  quantity 
and  lazy  drifting  without  the  agility  of  the  rhythmic 
movement. 

Dactyllic  words  are  slighted  more  frequently,  no 
doubt,  because  the  dactyl  implies  greater  animation  and 
agility  than  iambics  or  trochees.  The  student  should 
practice  quantity  and  rhythm  of  the  simplest  prose 
syllables,  words,  and  phrases.  By  comparison  of  quan- 
tity and  rhythm  he  is  prevented  from  developing  arti- 
ficiality and  affectation,  and  will  secure  that  union  of 
correctness  and  ease  which  will  develop  the  music  of 
speech. 

Arrange  many  words  with  regard  to  their  metric 
value,  and  speak  them  with  the  right  rhythmic  pulsation 
and  alternation  of  syllables,  being  especially  careful 
to  work  upon  those  combinations  most  liable  to  neglect. 
Whenever  the  consciousness  of  the  student  is  awakened 
to  a  specific  fault,  persevering  practice  should  at  once  be 
adopted  to  correct  any  given  defect. 

An  exercise  often  helpful  in  correcting  faults  is  to 
repeat  difficult  words  carefully.  Sentences  may  be 
chosen  with  combinations  especially  adapted  to  the  cor- 
rection of  some  one  fault.  These  can  be  prescribed  by 
teachers.  This  is  one  of  the  oldest  methods  of  develop- 
ing articulation,  and  will  always  have  importance  and 


422  MIND    AND   VOICE 

value.  Such  difficult  sentences  and  combinations  afford 
a  good  exercise,  especially  for  sluggish  organs.  The 
following  examples  have  been  selected  principally  from 
the  books  of  Professor  Alexander  Melville  Bell,  the 
ablest  authority  upon  the  subject  of  "  articulation." 

Studied  deceit  (not  study).  A  sad  dangler  (not  angler).  A 
languid  dame  (not  aim).  His  crime  moved  me  (not  cry).  He  will 
prate  to  anybody  (not  pray).  A  little  leaven  leaveneth  the  whole 
lump.  Fill  the  sieve  with  thistles,  then  sift  the  thistles  in  the  sieve. 

A  growing  gleam  glowing  green.  The  bleak  breeze  blighted  the 
bright  broom  blossoms.  Flesh  of  freshly  dried  flying  fish.  Six 
thick  thistle  sticks.  Two  toads  tried  to  trot  to  Tedbury.  Give 
Grimes  Jim's  great  gilt  gig  whip.  Strong  Stephen  Stringer  snared 
slickly  six  sickly  silky  snakes.  She  stood  at  the  door  of  Mrs.  Smith's 
fish  sauce  ship  welcoming  him  in.  Much  water  makes  the  meal- 
mill  wheel  work  well.  Eye  her  highness,  how  high  she  holds  her 
old  haughty  head.  The  soup  must  be  heated  before  he  eat  it. 
Chaste  stars  (not  tars).  Irish  yews  (not  shoes).  "  Give  the  cat 
stale  bread."  "  The  cat's  tail,  mamma?  "  "  Silence,  child!  " 

To  obtain  the  mastery  of  good  pronunciation  one 
should  listen  to  the  best  speakers,  and  note  the  openness 
and  richness  of  the  vowels,  the  precision  of  the  conso- 
nants, the  quantity,  the  rhythmic  pulsations,  and  the 
accent.  One  should  acquire  the  habit  of  carefully  con- 
sulting the  dictionary  regarding  every  word  about  which 
he  has  any  doubt.  When  the  student  hears  a  word 
pronounced  by  someone  in  a  different  way  from  that  to 
which  he  is  accustomed,  he  should  "  look  it  up  "  at 
once.  At  the  present  time  there  are  many  books  pub- 
lished on  this  subject.  By  going  over  these  lists  and 
carefully  marking  words  pronounced  incorrectly,  with 
the  help  of  a  good  dictionary,  common  mispronunciations 
may  be  avoided.  However,  there  must  be  no  slavish 
following  of  any  one  authority.  For  example,  a  teacher 
once  criticised  me  severely  for  saying  "  bosom."  To 
him  it  was  "  boosom  "  because  Webster's  Dictionary  at 


MOULDING  TONE   INTO   WORDS  423 

that  time  commanded  it.  Later  Webster  changed  this 
pronunciation  and  followed  Worcester,  but  sanctioned 
both.  The  pronunciation  which  I  had  heard  from  my 
childhood  was  the  best,  according  to  Worcester.  When- 
ever there  is  doubt  or  good  authority  for  a  pronunciation 
it  is  not  necessary  to  make  a  change. 

Good  English  means  not  only  correct  grammar  and 
right  choice  of  words,  but  also  proper  pronunciation. 


XXXHI.  FAULTS  OF  SPEECH 

All  faults  of  articulation  are  associated  with  constric- 
tions. Bad  speech  is  always  labored.  While  occasionally 
there  seems  to  be  lack  of  activity,  still,  after  closer  ex- 
amination, too  much  action,  or  that  of  the  wrong  parts, 
is  usually  found  as  the  basis  of  the  fault. 

The  chief  difficulty  is  a  failure  to  use  precisely  the 
right  part.  The  heavy  muscles  act  instead  of  the  deli- 
cate ones.  Instead  of  lifting  the  tip  or  front  of  the  tongue, 
the  whole  jaw  rises.  Instead  of  rounding  the  lips,  leav- 
ing the  mouth  chambers  very  large,  the  whole  tone  pas- 
sage is  narrowed.  "  T  "  is  made  not  with  the  tip  of  the 
tongue  but  with  the  whole  tongue.  When  the  back  of 
the  tongue  rises  the  tip  does  not  remain  relaxed  against 
the  lower  teeth,  but  the  whole  tongue  is  curled  up  and 
the  front  drawn  away  from  its  normal  bed.  Bad  articu- 
lation is  practically  always  the  result  of  a  mixed  condi- 
tion of  the  organs,  a  lack  of  differentiation  of  part  from 
part.  Another  cause  closely  connected  with  this  is  such 
a  narrowing  of  the  mouth  chamber  and  tone  passage 
that  the  tongue  especially  has  no  room  to  perform  its 
elemental  actions.  It  cannot  come  into  opposition  or 
recoil  into  passivity,  both  of  which  are  necessary. 

One  point  where  right  action  in  articulation  is  often 
overlooked  is  in  the  voice  consonants.  Notice  the  final 
"  s  "  of  speakers,  which  of  course,  is  a  "  z  "  after  a 


424  MIND  AND   VOICE 

voice  consonant  or  when  alone.  Usually  it  becomes  "  s  " 
before  the  speaker  has  completed  it. 

In  all  continuous  voice  consonants,  sometimes  called 
"  buzzes,"  such  as  "  z,"  "  zh,"  "  1,"  or  "  th  "  (as  in 
"thy"),  the  rest  of  the  tone  passage  should  be  as  open 
as  hi  producing  a  vowel.  Many  of  these  buzzes  are 
given  by  speakers  as  breath  consonants  because  some- 
what easier  to  produce.  This  is  especially  noticeable 
at  the  end  of  words. 

Unless  the  tongue  is  relaxed  it  cannot  promptly  per- 
form its  elemental  functions.  Failure  of  the  organs  of 
speech  to  be  active  and  passive  hi  alternation  is  uni- 
versally prevalent  in  bad  speech.  It  is  not  activity  that 
is  usually  lacking  but  passivity.  At  any  rate,  activity 
should  be  furnished  only  by  the  right  part,  and  this  can- 
not be  the  case  without  a  preceding  condition  of  relaxa- 
tion in  all  the  parts. 

To  correct  any  fault  requires  greater  relaxation  and 
openness  of  the  parts,  and  then  the  introduction  of 
precise  action  of  the  right  part. 

Hence,  constriction  or  narrowness  is  the  chief  cause 
of  the  undeveloped  or  indefinite  action  often  found  in 
consonants.  Increased  labor  cannot  remedy  the  defect. 
Labored  endeavor  to  do  so  constricts  the  vowels  and 
makes  the  voice  narrow  or  introduces  some  fault.  All 
muscular  actions  in  the  production  of  a  consonant  must 
recoil  into  passivity.  Correct  action  must  be  precise 
and  decided  and  give  way  instantly  to  openness. 

A  squeezed  condition,  however,  is  often  associated 
with  vowels  also.  Few  people  can  give  a  good  open 
"  ah"  or  "e."  Instead  of  having  every  vowel  open  with 
a  large  vowel  chamber  many  persons  have  hardly  one 
vowel  free  from  narrowness. 

Another  fault  that  may  be  named  is  sluggish  action. 
Misuse  or  stiffness  of  the  tongue  often  causes  lack  of 
precision,  decision,  and  ease  of  response  hi  the  utter- 


MOULDING  TONE   INTO   WORDS  425 

ance  of  consonants  as  well  as  narrowness  in  the 
vowels. 

These  various  faults  are  more  or  less  associated. 
Whenever  there  is  too  narrow  a  passage  for  the  organs 
to  act  there  is  likely  to  be  sluggishness  because  of  the 
use  of  unnecessary  parts  or  muscles  and  the  lack  of 
openness  or  freedom.  A  man  can  easily  point  to  the 
door  with  his  finger,  but  to  point  with  his  foot  requires 
labored  action.  He  can  easily  make  "  t,"  "  d,"  or  "  1," 
with  the  tip  of  his  tongue,  but  when  he  uses  the  whole 
tongue  he  cannot  have  that  delicacy  of  touch,  that  im- 
mediate return  to  vocal  passivity  characteristic  of  all 
good  speech. 

So  one  who  keeps  his  teeth  together  while  speaking 
makes  it  difficult  for  his  tongue  to  get  into  the  right 
positions  or  to  recoil  from  them. 

The  psychology  of  faults  of  speech  shows  us  the  neces- 
sity of  attention.  Pause  to  think  an  idea  completely 
and  definitely  with  the  words  that  belong  to  it,  and 
give  it  with  its  phrases.  Do  not  let  the  mind  wander 
too  far  ahead,  but  acquire  the  power  of  concentration. 

Nervous  people  are  apt  to  think  so  much  about  them- 
selves or  about  the  opinion  of  others  that  they  do  not 
concentrate  the  mind  so  intensely  as  to  receive  a  definite 
impression.  Many  faults  of  speech  are  simply  due  to 
confusion  of  attention.  In  every  case  the  correction  of 
faults  demands  development  of  clear  thinking. 

A  psychological  explanation  has  recently  been  made 
of  verbal  blunders,  especially  the  faults  in  articulation 
called  "  verbal  lapses."  The  accentuating  of  sentences 
and  syllables  has  been  explained  by  Professor  Joseph 
Jastrow  as  the  "  intrusion  of  subconsciousness."  The 
"  complexity  of  speech,"  he  writes,  "  requires  the  oc- 
cupation with  many  processes  at  once,  and  some  of 
these  —  the  nicer,  more  delicate,  less  familiar  ones,  — 
will  receive  the  major  attention,  while  the  routine  factors 


426  MIND   AND   VOICE 

engage  but  a  minor  degree  of  concern.  Slight  fluctua- 
tions in  the  condition  of  the  speaker  —  physiological 
ones  such  as  fatigue  and  for  the  most  part,  psychological 
ones,  such  as  excitement,  apprehension,  embarrassment 
—  will  induce  variations  in  the  nicety  of  adjustment 
that  are  recognizable  as  typical  slips  of  tongue  or  pen, 
and,  still  more  significantly  of  the  tongue-and-pen- 
guiding  mechanism." 

This  I  have  found  to  be  at  the  basis  of  a  great  many 
other  faults.  It  has  much  to  do  with  some  forms  of 
stammering  and  stuttering. 

One  proof  of  this  confusion  of  attention  appears  hi  the 
fact  that  when  a  speaker  is  embarrassed  he  is  much 
more  likely  to  tangle  up  the  complex  successive  actions 
concerned  in  speech.  The  stammerer  will  anticipate  a 
difficulty,  and  in  reading  or  in  talking  will  see  a  word 
long  before  he  speaks  it.  He  is  thus  sure  to  trip  when 
he  comes  upon  it. 

Of  course,  what  has  been  said  here  will  not  explain 
all  faults,  but  the  peculiar  leaping  of  certain  words  and 
the  combining  of  two  that  are  far  apart  is  well  called 
"  the  intrusion  of  the  subconscious." 

These  principles  especially  apply  to  the  early  stages  of 
stammering.  Stuttering  sometimes  consists  of  a  few 
spasmodic  hesitations,  but  these  if  neglected  degenerate 
into  a  fixed  habit,  and  lead  to  the  more  serious  impedi- 
ment of  convulsive  stammering. 

A  simple  remedy  for  the  first  stages  includes  quiet, 
confidence,  concentration,  thinking  one  idea  at  a  time, 
taking  time  to  pause,  and  speak  phrase  by  phrase  with 
great  deliberation. 

All  faults  are  strangely  similar  from  the  psychological 
point  of  view  as  well  as  the  physiological,  though  they 
may  appear  totally  different  hi  the  act  of  speaking.  Con- 
trol of  difficult  combinations  will  help.  Training  the 
organs  will  render  some  assistance,  but  this  is  far  more 


MOULDING   TONE   INTO   WORDS  427 

effective  if  united  to  definite  command  of  attention  and 
successive  actions  of  the  mind  in  thinking  and  speaking. 

Two  leading  faults  in  speech  as  a  whole  can  be  found. 
The  first  of  these  is  a  squeezed  condition  of  all  the  ele- 
ments characterized  by  a  certain  nicety  and  struggle  to 
be  very  precise.  It  is  pedantic  and  exceedingly  artificial. 

The  second  general  fault  of  speech  as  a  whole  is  slug- 
gishness. This  is  the  opposite  of  the  last.  The  organs 
of  articulation  do  not  come  into  opposition  with  sufficient 
precision  and  readiness.  They  drag  into  their  places. 
The  vowel  positions  are  indefinite  and  the  consonants 
are  indistinct. 

Perfect  speech  requires  a  balance  between  the  con- 
sonant and  the  vowel  action.  The  better  the  vowel  the 
better  the  consonant,  and  the  better  the  consonant  the 
better  the  vowel.  Their  perfect  balance  results  from 
the  right  action  of  the  organs,  the  openness  of  the  whole 
mouth  chamber,  tone  passage,  and  the  power  of  each 
part  to  definitely  perform  its  elemental  action. 

Faults  in  specific  elements  are  due  to  wrong  positions 
of  the  organs,  to  omissions,  insertions,  or  substitutions. 

Of  the  first  class,  possibly  the  greatest  number  is 
found  in  uttering  the  letter  "  s."  Sometimes  the  tongue 
is  too  far  forward,  making  a  kind  of  lisp;  sometimes  it 
is  too  far  back.  Sometimes  the  back  of  the  tongue  is 
curled  and  it  is  almost  a  whistle. 

By  speaking  such  a  sentence  as  the  following:  "  Sisy- 
phus sold  six  pairs  of  scissors,"  the  teacher  may  illustrate 
at  least  six  distinct  faults,  —  substitution  of  "  th," 
tongue  too  far  forward,  too  far  back,  curling  of  the  tongue, 
substitution  of  "  Ih  "  or  "  ngh."  When  a  teacher  finds 
a  defective  "  s  "  the  tongue  should  be  examined  for 
tongue  tie.  In  a  small  class  of  post  graduates  in  Har- 
vard University  I  once  had  one-fourth  of  the  class  cut  for 
tongue  tie.  This  is  the  most  remarkable  average,  how- 
ever, I  ever  found.  The  fact  that  I  have  frequently  had 


428  MIND   AND   VOICE 

men  over  forty  years  of  age,  with  high  collegiate  honors, 
clipped  for  tongue  tie,  illustrates' the  neglect  of  the  sim- 
plest elements  in  the  science  of  speech.  The  teacher 
needs  especial  attention  hi  the  study  of  the  position  of 
the  organs,  and  these  have  been  fully  explained  in 
the  books  of  Professor  Alexander  Melville  Bell  and 
also  in  Dr.  Alexander  Graham  Bell's  "  Mechanism  of 
Speech." 

Many  of  the  worst  faults,  seemingly,  of  speech,  when 
thoroughly  analyzed,  are  found  to  be  simply  the  imper- 
fect utterance  of  one  element. 

One  of  the  most  common  defects  of  speech  is  omis- 
sion. There  are  a  great  many  words  with  unaccented 
syllables  where  the  vowel  is  left  out.  "  Curtain  "  is 
generally  given  as  "  curt'n,"  "  Latin "  as  "  Lat'n." 
There  are  more  omissions  among  consonants  than 
among  vowels.  Words  which  end  in  "  kts,"  such  as 
"acts,"  usually  omit  "  t,"  and  the  "kts,"  becomes 
simply  "  s,"  and  "  acts  "  is  degraded  to  "  ax."  In  the 
word  "  sects  "  the  "  t "  is  often  omitted.  A  story  is  told 
of  a  theological  student  at  St.  Andrews,  who  in  opening 
the  exercises  with  prayer  made  the  astonishing  request 
that  all  difference  of  "  sex  "  might  disappear. 

Another  fault  is  insertion.  One  common  fault  of  this 
kind  hi  some  localities  is  the  adding  of  an  "  r  "  to  words 
ending  hi  "  a:  "  "  idear  "  for  "  idea;  "  another  is  the 
insertion  of  the  so-called  "  lazy  u  "  between  vowels  and 
consonants,  as  between  short  "  i  "  and  "  1 "  in  "  build," 
"  f  "  for  "  th,"  "  th  "  for  "  s,"  and  many  others. 

The  substitution  of  elements  is  another  fault  and  one 
of  the  most  frequent  in  vowels.  Many  words  hi  English 
end  hi  an  unaccented  syllable  with  "  short  e,"  such  as 
words  ending  in  "ent "  "  ed,"  "  est,"  and  "  ess."  "Short 
"i  "  is  generally  substituted  for  "  short  e."  This  is  some- 
tunes  done  even  in  monosyllables,  using  "  yit  "  for 
"yet,"  "git"  for  "get,"  but  much  more  often  in 


MOULDING  TONE   INTO   WORDS  429 

unaccented  syllables.  Substitution  of  the  "  lazy  u  "  for 
"  short  e "  marks  still  more  incorrect  speech.  The 
"  short  o,"  also,  in  such  words  as  "  observe  "  is  often 
changed  into  a  "  lazy  u "  and  the  word  becomes 
"  ubserve." 

Common  substitution  is  "  n  "  for  "  ng."  Most  people 
seem  to  think  that  the  fault  is  leaving  off  the  "  g,"  but 
"  ng  "  is  neither  "  n  "  nor  "  g."  It  is  only  like  "  g  "  in 
that  it  is  made  at  the  back  of  the  tongue,  and  like  "  n  " 
because  it  is  nasal.  The  fault  is  a  substitution  and  due 
to  the  fact  that  the  tip  of  the  tongue  can  rise  and  work 
more  easily  than  the  back  of  the  tongue.  A  remedy 
for  this  is  to  read  a  sentence  or  poem,  such  as  "  Lodore  " 
with  many  repetitions  of  "  ng,"  or  to  practice  the  exercise 
called  Agility  of  the  Soft  Palate  until  "  ng  "  becomes 
as  easy  as  "  n." 

Of  all  faults  of  speech  the  most  common  and  the  most 
glaring  centre  is  the  misuse  of  quantity.  Listen  to  ordi- 
nary, slip-shod  speech,  and  notice  how  words  are  run 
together,  and  whole  syllables  and  even  words  elided  or 
blurred.  Only  a  solitary  letter  or  element  of  a  word  is 
sometimes  heard,  and  that  blended  with  elements 
taken  from  other  words. 

Johnny  recited  one  stanza  of  the  "  Psalm  of  Life "  to  the 
delight  of  his  proud  mamma  and  amid  the  plaudits  of  the 
company: 

"Liza  Grape  men  allry  mindus 
Weaken  maka  Liza  Blime, 
Andy  Parting  Lee  B.  Hindus 
Footbrin  Johnny  Sands  a  time !  " 

Ladies'  Home  Journal. 

If  anyone  thinks  this  is  exaggeration  he  should  listen 
to  conversation  on  the  street.  Of  course  it  appears  a 
little  worse  in  print  as  there  are  no  inflexions  and  other 
modulations  of  voice  and  actions  to  help  in  piecing  out 


43°  MIND   AND   VOICE 

the  imperfections  of  the  words.  The  capital  letters  also 
help  to  confuse  a  reader  more  than  a  hearer. 

We  must  not  confuse  true  vocal  quantity  with  pedantic 
squeezing  of  vowels  by  labored  consonants.  Prejudice 
against  artificial  speech  or  the  over-balancing  of  conso- 
nant action  and  the  squeezing  of  the  vowels  frequently 
prevents  genuine  work  upon  vocal  quantity. 

Pause  and  touch  furnish  one  of  the  best  exercises  for 
the  development  of  articulation  in  rhythmic  alternation. 

The  subject  of  articulation  will  be  lifted  to  a  higher 
plane  when  we  realize  that  what  is  needed  is  larger 
vowel  chambers,  more  simple  and  definite  decision  of 
consonants,  true  vocal  quantity,  and  right  sequence  of 
syllables,  more  relaxation  rather  than  labored  action 
of  the  heavy  muscles  and  more  definite  action  of  the 
delicate  necessary  parts. 

WO  DANGER  TO  THE  BRAVE. 

"  The  sky  is  clouded,  the  rocks  are  bare ; 
The  spray  of  the  tempest  is  white  in  air; 
The  winds  are  out  with  the  waves  at  play 
And  I  shall  not  tempt  the  sea  to-day. 

The  trail  is  narrow,  the  wood  is  dim, 
The  panther  clings  to  the  arching  limb ; 
And  the  lion's  whelps  are  abroad  at  play, 
And  I  shall  not  join  in  the  chase  to-day." 

But  the  ship  sailed  safely  over  the  sea, 
And  the  hunters  came  from  the  chase  in  glee, 
And  the  town  that  was  builded  upon  a  rock 
Was  swallowed  up  in  the  earthquake-shock. 

Bret  Harte. 


IX 
ARTISTIC    APPLICATIONS 

XXXIV.     FORMS   OF  ART 

However  thoroughly  we  may  understand  the  sciences 
of  voice  production  and  training,  we  must  always  bear  in 
mind  that  vocal  training  primarily  belongs  to  art.  By  a 
scientific  method  we  broaden  our  information  and  deepen 
our  knowledge  of  principles.  But  some  kind  of  art  follows 
with  their  instinctive  use.  Whatever  we  know  must  be 
assimilated  and  be  used  as  material  for  the  creative 
imagination.  We  do  not  really  know  anything  until  we 
are  able  to  express  it. 

Science  is  deliberative ;  art  more  instinctive.  Science 
is  more  abstract,  impersonal,  judicial,  intellectual;  art 
is  more  imaginative,  emotional,  synthetic,  concrete, 
and  creative.  They  complement  each  other  in  any  true 
human  development. 

This  is  especially  true  of  the  voice.  It  is  primarily 
an  agent  of  expression,  and  all  our  knowledge  of  it  must 
be  applied  knowledge.  We  are  apt  to  regard  the  voice 
as  merely  a  useful  tool,  if  not  a  mechanical  one.  Even 
in  this  respect  it  has  been  depreciated  and  for  any  higher 
artistic  use  of  it  men  have  little  thought.  The  voice  is 
continually  used  to  express  commonplace  ideas. 

For  many  reasons  the  arts  associated  with  the  voice 
are  the  most  misunderstood  and  most  liable  to  abuse. 
They  are  subjective  and  personal.  The  agent  used  is 
a  part  of  the  body.  They  are  transitory,  dying  the  mo- 
ment they  are  born. 


432  MIND   AND   VOICE 

The  speech  arts  are  especially  liable  to  misconcep- 
tion and  neglect.  Men  talk  every  day,  and  there  is 
nothing  more  commonplace  than  ordinary  conversation. 
Many  exalt  art  or  poetry  and  separate  them  from  life. 
Art  belongs,  they  think,  to  the  wealthy  few;  the  many 
have  little  to  do  with  it.  Nothing  can  be  farther  from  the 
truth.  The  highest  art,  literature  or  poetry,  is  closest 
to  life.  The  best  art  uses  the  simplest  means,  expresses 
universal  truth,  and  belongs  to  all  mankind.  He  is  not 
a  complete  man  who  does  not  appreciate  the  highest 
phases  of  human  experience.  The  people  who  do  not 
act  are  one-sided.  Freedom  cannot  live  without  oratory. 
The  race  that  does  not  sing  is  doomed. 

The  various  arts  are  simply  phases  or  modes  of  ex- 
pression. We  can  divide  them  into  the  arts  that  are 
primarily  expression  and  those  which  are  rather  records 
of  expression.  Painting,  sculpture,  and  architecture  are 
permanent  possessions  of  the  race;  they  can  be  seen, 
felt,  and  realized  for  thousands  of  years.  But  the  arts 
that  use  the  voice  as  an  agent  cannot  be  recorded. 
There  is  great  advantage  in  studying  an  objective  art 
like  painting.  One  painting  can  be  compared  with  an- 
other. We  can  realize  standards  of  criticism  and  note 
characteristics.  We  can  compare  such  arts  with  nature 
and  study  them  for  long  periods  of  time. 

The  arts  associated  with  speaking,  however,  have 
their  advantage  in  a  more  intense  feeling,  greater  diver- 
sity of  ideas  as  well  as  greater  complexity  of  elements. 
The  different  arts  are  different  languages.  Each  begins 
where  the  other  leaves  off.  Each  says  something  that 
no  other  can  say  so  well.  Hence,  all  of  these  arts  must 
be  brought  into  sympathetic  union.  They  complement 
each  other  and  only  by  comparative  study  can  we  realize 
the  deepest  principles. 

There  is  a  special  reason  why  transitory  arts  like  vocal 
expression  should  be  compared  with  the  recordable 


ARTISTIC   APPLICATIONS  433 

and  permanent  arts  like  painting.  On  the  other  hand, 
there  are  many  reasons  why  painters  and  sculptors 
should  study  human  expression.  The  word  "  expres- 
sion "  belongs  to  natural  acts,  such  as  the  smile  or  the 
simplest  voice  modulations.  A  painting  or  statue  are 
records  of  expression,  records  of  one  instant.  If  well 
chosen  they  may  reveal  the  spirit  of  a  character,  but  to 
make  any  advance  the  sculptor  or  painter  must  study 
the  natural  expression  of  everyday  life  and  should 
know  the  fundamental  principles  of  the  transitory  arts. 

The  dramatic  arts  are  the  arts  of  humanity.  The  arts 
associated  with  speech  and  song  are  ever  the  most 
popular.  When  understood  and  appreciated,  when  made 
a  part  of  education,  when  endowed  and  encouraged, 
the  other  arts  are  stimulated  and  the  highest  culture 
results. 

However,  on  account  of  the  frequency  of  our  voice 
modulations  we  entirely  overlook  and  neglect  them. 
When  called  to  our  attention  we  are  indifferent.  Who 
ever  thinks  of  the  voice,  especially  in  speaking,  as  an 
agent  of  the  highest  art? 

Painting,  however,  is  objective.  Hence,  men  have 
studied  its  nature  and  principles.  Accordingly,  we  must 
often  look  to  pictures  and  statues  for  principles  govern- 
ing all,  and  especially  the  vocal  arts  that  are  so  near  to 
us  as  not  to  be  understood.  From  such  an  art  we  get 
rhythm,  or  what  is  known  as  composition,  that  is,  the 
relation  of  parts  in  such  a  way  that  attention  is  main- 
tained by  leaping  from  one  to  another.  We  can  see 
that  a  picture  must  also  have  unity.  All  its  parts  must 
be  brought  into  relation,  and  further  consideration  of  it 
reveals  the  fact  that  a  true  picture  is  one  impression,  one 
concentration  of  attention.  Various  parts  must  be  so 
related  to  one  another  that  all  are  seen  at  once,  felt  at 
once,  the  mind  co-ordinating  and  bringing  all  into  unity 
for  the  stimulation  of  an  impression. 


434  MIND   AND   VOICE 

One  important  lesson  in  the  right  use  of  the  voice 
drawn  from  the  other  arts,  especially  from  painting,  is 
the  necessity  of  a  vivid  and  deep  impression.  Painting 
is  an  objective  record  of  one  mental  impression.  It  is 
the  art  that  is  founded  upon  intensity  of  gaze.  The 
individualization  of  impression  must  ever  be  the  first 
step  in  securing  any  artistic  use  of  the  voice. 

In  studying  painting  or  sculpture  we  find  another 
lesson,  the  necessity  of  right  qualities  of  execution.  The 
painter  must  have  a  touch  characterized  by  decision, 
ease,  and  facility,  and  here  as  in  all  other  arts  we  dis- 
cover a  technique,  and  perceive  that  a  system  of  training 
which  will  master  such  qualities  is  necessary. 

The  same  is  true  in  human  speech.  Men  use  their 
voices  with  labor  because  they  misunderstand  or  have 
not  the  right  control  of  the  instrument.  They  use  them 
with  constriction  and  with  a  lack  of  decision  in  the  touch 
or  in  the  giving  of  the  simplest  inflexion.  To  improve 
the  arts  of  song  or  speech,  accordingly,  then*  technique 
must  be  mastered.  It  is  impossible  for  one  to  improve 
his  speaking  without  securing  control  over  voice 
conditions. 

To  speak  so  as  to  be  understood  in  the  drawing  room, 
on  the  street,  or  in  the  shop  may  be  easy,  but  to  speak 
so  as  to  interpret  some  great  theme  to  a  thousand  people 
demands  unusual  mastery  of  the  voice.  The  weaknesses 
and  imperfections  found  hi  ordinary  speech  become  far 
more  manifest  the  higher  the  function. 

XXXV.  QUALITIES  OF  NATURE  AND  ART 

Thorough  development  of  the  voice  demands  careful 
analysis.  Attention  must  be  directed  to  specific  parts, 
actions,  and  conditions.  Single  tones,  letters,  syllables, 
words,  and  phrases  must  be  exercised  for  a  definite  end. 
If  the  student  and  teacher  are  not  careful  this  often 


ARTISTIC   APPLICATIONS  435 

greatly  emphasizes  the  deliberative  elements.  The 
student  will  be  apt  at  first  to  become  self-conscious.  To 
remedy  this  the  artistic  point  of  view  must  be  kept  con- 
stantly in  mind. 

Hence,  in  connexion  with  all  the  previous  lessons, 
technical  exercises  have  to  be  followed  by  expression  or 
exercise  in  rendition.  Training  is  a  means  to  an  end. 
From  the  first  the  mental  cause  must  be  awakened. 
After  exercise  of  a  part  the  whole  being  and  organism 
must  be  brought  into  action.  Some  specific  interpreta- 
tion must  bring  all  into  harmony.  Mechanical  practice  of 
exercises  alone  can  never  bring  all  the  co-ordinations 
into  that  deep  union  which  is  necessary.  Expression  is 
a  natural  act,  that  too  upon  which  all  the  arts  are 
founded.  We  must  discover  qualities  of  art  from 
studying  nature,  apply  all,  and  obey  them  in  instinctive 
interpretation. 

I.   SPONTANEITY. 

All  through  this  series  of  books  on  the  different  phases 
of  expression  the  fundamental  characteristic  of  nature  is 
recognized  as  being  a  process  from  within  outward. 
This  law  of  all  life  is  the  fundamental  law  of  all  expres- 
sion. Mastery  of  exercises  simply  aims  to  give  facility 
to  this  process  in  the  human  organism.  For  lack  of  a 
better  name  we  will  call  this  spontaneity.  It  might  be 
called  originality,  since  everything  that  obeys  this  law 
has  a  character  distinct  from  everything  else.  It  under- 
lies other  qualities,  such  as  freedom  or  absence  of  ex- 
ternal restrictions  or  hindrance;  simplicity,  or  the 
directness  between  cause  and  effect,  and  unity  or  the 
fact  that  living  expression  comes  from  one  centre,  and 
acts  in  all  directions  with  harmony. 

The  establishing  of  normal  conditions  enables  the 
student  to  trust  his  instincts.  Then,  exercises  as  a 
mechanical  performance  must  be  forgotten  and  all  the 


436  MIND   AND   VOICE 

actions  of  being  and  body  so  normally  established  that 
naturalness  is  the  result.  In  all  art,  knowledge  must 
become  a  possession  of  instinct. 

The  student  should  widen  his  view  of  art;  it  is  not  a 
thing  but  a  process;  an  art  work  must  be  an  outgrowth 
and  must  suggest  directly  or  indirectly  the  living  process 
of  an  organism.  The  mastery  of  the  speech  arts  espe- 
cially awakens  the  artistic  nature  at  the  fountain  head. 
The  fundamental  characteristic  of  nature  must  be 
fully  realized.  Thus,  the  student  must  come  to  feel 
naturally  the  kinship  of  all  the  arts  as  well  as  to  be  able 
to  recognize  their  specific  differences. 

The  beginning  of  all  vocal  art  should  be  the  right 
interpretation  of  some  passage  of  good  literature.  In 
the  expression  of  thought,  imagination,  and  feeling  em- 
bodied in  such  work  the  student  must  feel  the  nature 
of  spontaneity.  As  every  twig  on  the  tree  takes  a  differ- 
ent direction,  as  every  leaf  develops  something  of  a 
distinct  character,  so  with  some  kind  of  regulation  and 
guidance  yet  without  mechanical  manipulation,  on  the 
one  hand,  or  external  repression  on  the  other,  must  the 
inner  life  be  expressed. 

Spontaneity  does  not  mean  impulsiveness  or  chaos. 
It  means  harmonious  union  of  all  the  faculties  and  powers 
of  the  man,  voluntary  and  involuntary,  the  voice  sympa- 
thetically responding  to  these,  and  all  its  parts  co- 
ordinated in  response  to  the  deeper  co-ordinations  of 
thought,  emotion,  and  will. 

The  student  must  distinguish  carefully  between 
impulsiveness  and  these  essential  qualities.  Impul- 
siveness is  the  one-sided  action  of  force.  When  a  man 
has  feeling  without  thought  he  will  be  impulsive.  Spon- 
taneity does  not  imply  absence  of  control  but  of  manip- 
ulation. The  function  of  the  will  must  be  to  reserve 
the  inner  energy  until  it  diffuses  itself  through  the  whole 
nature.  Attention  must  be  sustained  until  imagination 


ARTISTIC   APPLICATIONS  437 

and  feeling  respond.     The  emotion  must  be  reserved 
until  it  affects  the  breathing  and  the  whole  body. 

There  is  a  great  difference  between  pushing  a  carriage 
with  our  own  hands  and  attaching  to  it  a  spirited  horse, 
climbing  inside,  and  taking  the  reins.  Our  emotions 
acting  by  their  own  spontaneous  force  may  be  guided 
by  man's  will  as  a  spirited  animal,  but  to  repress  and 
have  no  faith  in  feeling,  to  obey  mechanical  rules,  to 
manipulate  our  voices  in  all  phases  of  expression,  means 
taking  the  forces  of  nature  into  our  own  hands  and  inter- 
fering with  the  deepest  human  instincts. 

Such  interpretation  especially  tests  whether  the  train- 
ing has  rightly  awakened  the  subconscious  and  involun- 
tary elements.  Where  there  has  been  true  co-ordination 
these  are  found  to  be  disciplined,  multiplied,  regulated, 
and  brought  under  control,  though  indirectly. 

At  the  outset  of  practice  for  developing  expression 
through  the  voice  it  is  necessary  to  realize  deeply  the 
spontaneous  activities  or  vigor  of  the  involuntary  im- 
pulses. There  is  no  form  of  art  where  mere  mechanical 
work  is  so  instantly  recognized.  Since  vocal  expression 
is  subjective,  connected  with  the  involuntary  muscles  and 
unconscious  processes  of  the  nervous  system,  bringing 
into  activity  the  most  subtle  co-ordinations,  we  can  see 
at  once  why  men  are  so  universally  sensitive  as  to  what 
is  loosely  called  "  naturalness."  No  elocutionary  rules 
can  be  arranged  or  obeyed  which  will  suggest  the  free- 
dom, variation,  and  directness  between  cause  and  effect 
which  is  the  fundamental  character  of  all  eloquence, 
expressive  speech,  or  even  song. 

The  student  must  have  an  instinctive  realization  of 
the  difference  between  what  he  does  by  his  will  and  what 
is  done  for  him  by  indirect  spontaneous  impulses  awak- 
ened in  his  nature.  He  must  learn  how  to  direct  his 
will  and  his  deliberative  thouf  ht  so  as  to  awaken  imagina- 
tion and  emotion  and  bring  i  U  into  harmonious  union. 

V 


43^  MIND   AND   VOICE 

This  is  the  foundation  of  work  for  the  education  of  the 
artist.  By  its  means  artificiality  may  be  corrected  and 
naturalness  developed. 

Great  art  has  been  called  by  William  Morris  "  joy 
in  one's  work."  "  Art,"  says  another,  "  is  play  reduced 
to  the  principle  of  order."  The  joy  or  play  is  this  spon- 
taneous element,  order  the  volitional  regulation.  These 
must  be  blended  into  artistic  unity.  Control  must 
intensify  the  inner  force  and  lif e ;  order  must  stimulate 
and  only  guide  but  not  repress  the  joy  or  play. 

In  the  development  of  the  voice  the  student  must  dis- 
cover the  connexion  between  his  emotional  action  and 
the  modulation  of  his  voice  and  body.  While  he  must 
attune  his  voice  and  establish  normal  actions  or  condi- 
tions favorable  to  response,  he  must  recognize  that  this 
is  only  an  attuning  of  the  instrument,  not  the  playing 
upon  it.  The  climax  of  vocal  training  is  reached  when 
the  voice  responds  perfectly  to  every  thought  and  feeling. 

In  the  rendition  of  any  passage  there  are  always 
elements  that  seem  to  be  perfectly  free  —  such  as  change 
of  pitch,  for  example  —  especially  between  clauses  or 
ideas,  the  length  and  degree  of  abruptness  in  inflexion, 
movement,  or  rhythm.  Whenever  any  of  these  seem  to 
be  governed  by  rule  the  expression  becomes  mechanical. 
It  is  impossible  to  lay  down  laws  for  tone  color,  as  already 
shown,  and  still  less  for  texture.  Vocal  expression  as 
an  art  is  subjective  and  must  be  free. 

II.   CONSISTENCY  AND   UNITY. 

One  test  of  naturalness  in  the  modulation  of  the 
voice  is  that  the  activity  seems  to  come  not  only  from 
within  but  from  one  centre  and  stimulates  all  parts 
equally. 

There  can  be  no  great  art  of  any  kind  without  unity. 
If  an  objective  art,  like  pointing  or  architecture,  must 
reflect  certain  characteristics  of  an  organism,  the  artis- 


ARTISTIC   APPLICATIONS  439 

tic  use  of  the  voice  which  is  the  direct  product  of  an 
organism,  must  much  more  reflect  the  organic  relation- 
ship of  all  parts. 

The  whole  nature  must  be  concerned  in  voice,  the 
entire  body  must  vibrate;  the  whole  being  must  be 
awake.  Each  phrase  in  common  conversation  should 
indicate  the  politeness,  tenderness,  and  strength  of  the 
character  of  the  speaker. 

The  whole  nature  of  the  man  must  be  concerned. 
The  whole  being  must  be  active;  the  whole  body  must 
vibrate.  As  each  little  phrase  in  conversation  indicates 
the  politeness,  tenderness,  earnestness,  and  character 
of  the  speaker,  as  well  as  his  thought,  imagination,  and 
feeling,  so  the  voice  must  be  trained  ever  to  express  the 
complete  life  of  the  man. 

This  law  must  not  only  be  felt  and  realized  sub- 
jectively, but  the  student  should  recognize  it  hi  any 
true  literary  art  work.  Every  play,  every  story,  every 
fable,  every  speech,  every  poem,  must  be  so  rendered 
that  its  organic  unity  is  revealed. 

In  the  rendering  of  a  passage  every  part  should  be 
given  its  own  character.  Harmony  is  the  reconciliation 
of  opposites.  Sudden  transitions  and  contrasts  need 
especially  to  be  emphasized.  While  the  petals  of  a  flower 
unfold  in  opposition  yet  they  come  from  the  same  bud 
and  the  same  life  in  the  stem.  So,  in  the  interpretation 
of  the  best  literature  the  deep,  inner  life  of  the  passage 
requires  the  direct  opposition  of  parts,  and  by  this  op- 
position their  deeper  kinship  and  unity  is  found. 

In  "  The  Fool's  Prayer,"  for  example,  the  poet  intro- 
duces us  to  a  court  and  an  idle,  careless  , 

Exercise  105. 

king  who  calls  on  the  fool  to  make  a  prayer,  spontaneity 

and  Unity. 

Then  there  is  a  transition  to  the  seriousness 
of  the  fool;   instead  of  mockery  sincere  expression  fol- 
lows.    After  the  prayer  the  last  stanza  describing  the 
effect  upon  the  king  must  be  given  not  only  as  the  climax 


440  MIND   AND   VOICE 

of  the  whole,  but  in  direct  opposition  to  the  spirit  of  the 
first.  This  opposition  between  the  first  and  the  last 
brings  the  whole  into  unity,  from  the  sneer  to  rever- 
ence. All  these  parts  must  balance  and  harmonize  with 
the  whole,  the  intensity  of  the  last  must  especially 
justify  the  other  part,  and  bring  the  whole  into  com- 
plete unity. 

THE  FOOL'S  PRAYER. 
The  royal  feast  was  done ;  the  king 

Sought  some  new  sport  to  banish  care, 
And  to  his  jester  cried,  "  Sir  Fool, 

Kneel  now,  and  make  for  us  a  prayer!  " 

The  jester  doffed  his  cap  and  bells, 

And  stood  the  mocking  court  before : 
They  could  not  see  the  bitter  smile 

Behind  the  painted  grin  he  wore. 

He  bowed  his  head,  and  bent  his  knee 

Upon  the  monarch's  silken  stool ; 
His  pleading  voice  arose:  "  O  Lord, 

Be  merciful  to  me,  a  fool !  " 

"  No  pity,  Lord,  >could  change  the  heart 
From  red  with  wrong  to  white  as  wool ; 

The  rod  must  heal  the  sin;  but,  Lord, 
Be  merciful  to  me,  a  fool ! 

"  'T  is  not  by  guilt  the  onward  sweep 

Of  truth  and  right,  O  Lord,  we  stay; 
'T  is  by  our  follies  that  so  long 

We  hold  the  earth  from  heaven  away. 

"  These  clumsy  feet,  still  in  the  mire, 

Go  crushing  blossoms  without  end; 
These  hard,  well-meaning  hands  we  thrust 

Among  the  heart-strings  of  a  friend. 

"  The  ill-timed  truth  we  might  have  kept  — 
Who  knows  how  sharp  it  pierced  and  stung  ? 

The  word  we  had  not  sense  to  say  — 
Who  knows  how  grandly  it  had  rung? 

"  Our  faults  no  tenderness  should  ask, 
The  chastening  stripes  must  cleanse  them  all; 

But  for  our  blunders  —  oh,  in  shame 
Before  the  eyes  of  heaven  we  fall. 


ARTISTIC    APPLICATIONS  441 

"  Earth  bears  no  balsam  for  mistakes ; 

Men  crown  the  knave,  and  scourge  the  tool 
That  did  his  will;  but  thou,  O  Lord, 

Be  merciful  to  me,  a  fool !  " 

The  room  was  hushed ;  in  silence  rose 

The  king,  and  sought  his  gardens  cool, 
And  walked  apart,  and  murmured  low, 

"  Be  merciful  to  me,  a  fool !  " 

Edward  Rowland  Sill. 

Many  passages  can  be  found  in  which  the  interpreta- 
tion of  the  whole  demands  such  definite  opposition  and 
contrast  in  the  parts.  In  "The  Witch's  Daughter," 
which  Whittier  re-wrote  and  extended  under  the  title 
of  "  Mabel  Martin,"  we  have  a  spirited  description  of  a 
joyous  New  England  scene  which  turns  into  a  throb  of 
sorrow,  but  comes  to  a  strong  climax  with  joy  chastened 
by  sorrow,  and  much  deeper  than  the  joy  of  the  opening. 

III.   INTIMATION. 

The  aim  of  the  voice,  as  of  all  true  art,  is  to  reveal 
thought,  imagination,  and  feeling.  Hence,  the  highest 
quality  which  should  always  be  recognized  is  its  power 
to  intimate  or  to  suggest  the  deeper  conditions  of  the 
human  heart. 

All  true  art,  to  be  effective,  especially  any  form  of 
vocal  art,  demands  emphasis  of  fundamentals  rather 
than  of  accidentals.  An  exaggeration  of  accidentals 
always  destroys  harmony  and  unity,  and  especially  the 
power  to  suggest  the  deepest  experience.  When  acci- 
dentals are  exaggerated,  onesidedness  always  results; 
when  fundamentals  are  emphasized,  strength  and  power 
and  the  deepest  feelings  of  the  speaker  can  be  intimated. 

There  are  special  reasons  for  studying  the  fundamen- 
tal principles  of  art  in  the  use  of  the  voice.  Elocution 
for  over  one  hundred  years  has  emphasized  acciden- 
tals. Able  teachers  have  contended  that  abnormal 
qualities,  such  as  nasality,  flatness,  or  throatiness  should 


442  MIND   AND   VOICE 

be  used  in  the  art  of  public  reading.  This  has  tended  to 
degrade  all  the  speech  arts. 

All  normal  emotions,  of  their  very  nature,  tend  to 
purify  the  voice.  Degraded  emotions  must  be  idealized 
in  art,  and  such  idealizing  tends  to  cause  such  emotions 
to  be  only  suggested  by  modulations  of  texture  and  color. 

Faults  of  voice  are  accidental  and  not  essential  parts 
of  character.  They  are  abnormal;  hence,  when  these 
are  emphasized  the  fundamental-  spirit  of  art  as  the 
revelation  of  the  deeper  conditions  of  character  is 
destroyed. 

Tone  color  and  texture  are  absolutely  impossible 
with  these  faults,  since  their  presence  totally  perverts 
the  secondary  vibrations.  All  emotion  is  expressed  by 
the  modulation  of  these  secondary  vibrations,  and  what- 
ever perverts  these  will  destroy  expression. 

For  these  and  many  other  reasons  which  could  be 
adduced  such  faults,  even  in  true  dramatic  work,  be- 
long only  to  farce  and  burlesque.  In  tragedy  and  in 
all  true  comedy,  on  the  platform  and  in  the  interpreta- 
tion of  all  true  literature  normal  qualities  can  be  modu- 
lated sufficiently  to  express  every  phase  of  human 
feeling  and  human  character  without  the  introduction  of 
perversions  and  abnormal  habits  which  are  destructive 
of  all  art  and  also  destructive  of  health. 

The  power  of  the  voice  to  suggest  even  abnormal 
characters  without  itself  becoming  pervertedly  abnormal 
is  one  of  the  secrets  of  true,  noble,  and  ideal  vocal  art. 

Every  form  of  human  art  is  continually  tempted  to 
express  that  which  is  low  This  is  easier  and  more 
popular,  but  no  man  can  make  an  artist  hi  any  depart- 
ment who  is  not  continually  struggling  to  express  the 
aspirations,  ideals,  and  higher  experiences  of  his  nature 
and  to  express  them  in  the  highest  possible  way.  It  is 
easy  to  express  on  the  lower  plane;  the  difficulty  is  to 
grapple  with  higher  things.  When  the  higher  are  ex- 


ARTISTIC   APPLICATIONS  443 

pressed  the  least  hint  will  serve  on  the  lower  plane,  but 
when  attention  is  given  completely  to  represent  what 
is  on  a  lower  plane  the  power  to  intimate  that  which  is 
on  the  higher  plane  is  impossible.  One  who  desires  to 
realize  and  develop  the  high  possibilities  of  his  voice 
must  again  and  again  endeavor  to  express  the  most  ideal 
feelings  and  experiences  and  interpret  the  best  poetry 
and  literature. 

THE  STAR. 

I  had  a  star  to  sing  by,  a  beautiful  star  that  led, 
But  when  I  sang  of  its  splendour  the  world  in  its  wisdom  said: 
"  Sweet  are  your  songs,  yet  the  singer  sings  but  in  madness  when 
He  hymns  but  stars  unbeholden  of  us  his  fellows  of  men; 

Glow-worms  we  see  and  marshlights ;  sing  us  sweet  songs  of  those 
For  the  guerdon  we  have  to  give  you,  laurel  and  gold  and  rose ; 
Or,  if  you  must  sing  of  stars,  unseen  of  your  brother  man, 
Go,  starve  with  your  eyes  on  your  vision;  your  star  may  save  if  it 
can!" 

So  I  said,  "  If  I  starve  and  die  I  never  again  shall  see 
The  glory,  the  high  white  radiance  that  hallows  the  world  for  me ; 
I  will  sing  their  songs,  if  it  must  be,  and  when  I  have  golden  store, 
I  will  turn  from  the  marsh  and  the  glow-worms,  and  sing  of  my  star 
once  more." 

So  I  walked  in  the  warm  wet  by-ways,  not  daring  to  lift  my  eyes, 
Lest  love  should  drive  me  to  singing  my  star  supreme  in  the  skies, 
And  the  world  cried  out,  "  We  will  crown  him,  he  sings  of  the  lights 

that  are, 
Glories  of  marshlight  and  glow-worm,  not  visions  vain  of  a  star." 

I  said,  "  Now  my  brows  are  laurelled,  my  hands  filled  full  of  their 

gold, 

I  will  sing  the  starry  songs  that  these  earthworms  bade  withhold. 
It  is  time  to  sing  of  my  star !  "  for  I  dreamed  that  my  star  still  shone, 
Then  I  lifted  my  eyes  in  my  triumph.    Night!  night!  and  my  star 

was  gone. 

£.  Nesbit. 

The  suggestiveness  of  the  voice  is  remarkable.  All 
expression  is  simply  the  appeal  of  the  faculties  of  one 
to  similar  faculties  in  another.  The  true  secret  of  all 


444  MIND   AND   VOICE 

art  is  intimation.  No  man  can  conceive  adequately  the 
ocean.  In  one  sense,  accordingly,  it  cannot  be  ex- 
pressed, but  in  another  sense,  when  one  stands  before 
his  fellow-men  he  can  show  the  effort  to  realize  it  and 
the  will  is  taken  for  the  deed.  One  also  who  expresses 
his  endeavor  to  conceive  the  infinite,  awakens  another 
to  the  same  effort  and  the  two  natures  are  united  in  an 
endeavor  to  realize  something  that  transcends  human 
perception.  The  highest  expression  is  something  that 
transcends  language;  it  is  especially  that  intimation 
which  transcends  all  representation. 

The  Peak  is  high  and  flush' d 

At  his  highest  with  sunrise  fire ; 
The  Peak  is  highland  the  stars  are  high, 

And  the  thought  of  a  man  is  higher. 
A  deep  below  the  deep, 

And  a  height  beyond  the  height! 
Our  hearing  is  not  hearing, 

And  our  seeing  is  not  sight. 
From  "  The  Voice  and  the  Peak  »  Alfred  Tennyson. 

Observe  how  the  voice  can  express  perception  on 
the  lowest  commonplace  plane  in  the  following  lines,  and 
then  suggest  the  gradual  rising  of  the  mind  to  the  reali- 
zation on  the  highest  truth. 

Flower  in  the  crannied  wall, 

I  pluck  you  out  of  the  crannies;  — 
Hold  you  here,  root  and  all,  in  my  hand, 
Little  flower;  —  but  if  I  could  tnderstand 
What  you  are,  root  and  all,  and  all  in  all, 

I  should  know  what  God  and  man  is. 

Alfred  Tennyson. 

Note  also  that  the  human  voice  can  intimate  impres- 
sions received  on  a  mountain  height,  and  more  than 
this,  can  suggest  the  difference  between  the  impression 
in  daylight  and  at  night  under  the  stars. 


ARTISTIC   APPLICATIONS  445 

Oh,  at  the  eagle's  height, 

To  lie  in  the  sweet  of  the  sun, 
While  veil  after  veil  takes  flight, 

And  God  and  the  world  are  one. 

Oh,  the  night  on  the  steep ! 

All  that  his  eyes  saw  dim 
Grows  light  in  the  dusky  deep, 

And  God  is  alone  with  him. 

(George  William  Russell.)  "A.  E." 

We  find  here  the  glory  of  the  human  voice  in  expres- 
sion. It  is  subjective,  personal.  When  properly  trained 
it  becomes  so  allied  with  human  powers  that  it  inti- 
mates their  action,  even  their  effort  to  conceive  the 
inconceivable,  to  express  that  which  is  most  exalted  and 
most  sublime.  The  student  should  study  the  most  ideal 
poem  he  can  find.  He  must  endeavor  to  realize  it 
deeply  and  profoundly  and  express  it  truly.  He 
must  realize  it  not  by  the  intellect,  as  if  it  were 
something  to  be  easily  understood,  but  as  something 
that  can  only  be  hinted  to  the  imagination.  "  The 
deep  below  the  deep,  the  height  above  the  height " 
can  only  be  felt. 

The  voice  can  reveal  the  impressions  made  upon  the 
human  heart.  It  does  not  represent  the  exact  ideas; 
it  reveals  experiences ;  and  in  this  it  lays  the  foundation 
for  artistic  expression.  It  does  not  even  represent  things 
or  facts  but  manifests  the  impressions  made  upon  the 
human  being.  This  forms  the  basis  of  the  highest  art. 
Of  all  the  means  human  ingenuity  has  employed  in 
all  phases  of  representation,  in  music,  painting,  and 
sculpture  the  living  voice  transcends  them  all.  The 
voice  is  the  one  sublime  means  by  which  men  com- 
municate their  deepest  experiences,  their  ideals,  and 
aspirations. 

In  this  highest  power  of  the  living  voice,  its  power  to 
express  the  ideal,  even  that  which  man  realizes  but  can- 


446  MIND   AND   VOICE 

not  understand,  we  find  the  importance  of  the  voice  in 
human  education,  its  power  to  develop  the  imagination 
and  feeling.  It  enables  one  human  being  to  express  to 
another  the  highest  aspirations  and  deepest  realizations 
of  the  human  heart. 


INDEX 


Extracts  indicated  by  (Ext.).    Exercises  indicated  by  Ex. 


A  blind  man  (Ext.),  392 

Absence  of  occupation,  Cowper 
(Ext),  388 

A  crowd  of  troubles,  Allison 
(Ext.),  276 

A  little  hand,  Symons  (Ext.), 
352 

Accentuation  of  co-ordinate  con- 
ditions, Ex.,  48,  144 

Adieu,  adieu,  Byron  (Ext.),  62 

Agility  of  inflexion,  Ex.,  81,  252 

Agility  of  intervals,  Ex.,  82,  258 

Agility  of  jaw  and  tongue,  Ex., 
102,  414;  intervallic,  258- 
260 ;  inflexional,  244-258 ; 
melodic,  260-262 

Agility  of  soft  palate,  Ex.,  38, 

125 
Ah,  a  happy  man,  Trowbridge 

(Ext),  100 
Ah,  'tis    like,  Massey    (Ext), 

292 
All    art  consists,    Pater  (Ext.), 

367 

Allison,  F.  J.  A  crowd  of 
troubles  (Ext),  276 

Ambient,  Mark.  What  May  said 
to  December,  198. 

Application  of  initiation,  Ex., 
68,  201 

Application  of  the  principle, 
24,  25 

Arise,  away  (Ext.),  45 

Arnold,  M.  Calm  soul  of  all 
things  (Ext.),  264;  Hark!  fast 
by  the  window  (Ext.),  46 

Arnold,  Sir  Edward.  Peace  be- 
ginning to  be  (Ext.),  142 

Art,  forms  of,  431-434 


Articulation,     development     of, 

411—418 

Artistic  application,  431-446 
Athens    and    Sparta,    Stafford, 

143  — - 

At  the  last,  Whitman  (Ext.), 
346 

Ballad  of  the  Angel,  Garrison, 
107 

Barbauld,  Anna  L.  Life  I  know 
not  (Ext.),  164 

Barclay  of  Ury,  Whittier,  309 

Battle  Cry,  Neidhardt,  117 

Beloved  of  children,  Emerson 
(Ext),  102 

Bird  Raptures,  Rossetti,  165 

Blackbird's  Song,  Kingsley,  272 

Blake,  Wm.  Come,  live  and  be 
merry  (Ext.),  193 

Blind  Men  and  the  Elephant, 
Saxe,  250 

Blow  on,  Knowles  (Ext.),  367 

Bluebird,  Miller,  68 

Body  closely  related  to  voice, 
25-31 

Breath,  economy  of,  174-180 

Breathiness,  207-209 

Breathing,  audible,  113,  114; 
centrality  of,  I,  Ex.,  14,  90; 
II.,  Ex.,  15,  91 ;  collar  bone, 
115-117;  dignity  and  repose 
in,  Ex.,  34,  117;  faults  of, 
105-119;  flexibility  of,  Ex. 
31,  no;  furnishes  motive 
power,  83,  84;  education  of, 
87;  centre  of,  88;  retental, 
action  in  voice  production, 
94;  labored,  118;  mouth, 


INDEX 


111-113;  too  seldom,  114, 
115;  unity  of  forces  in,  Ex., 
33>  "SJ  weak  and  sluggish, 
108-110 

Brown,  T.  E.    My  Garden,  248. 

Browning,  Robert.  Home 
Thoughts  from  Abroad,  95; 
I  go  to  prove  my  soul  (Ext.), 
115;  I  sprang  to  the  stirrup 
(Ext),  no;  No,  ah,  no!  (Ext.), 
104 

Buchanan,  Robert.  Mark, 
mark  (Ext.),  62;  Summer 
Moon,  204;  The  bridegroom 
in  his  robe  (Ext.),  331 

Bugle  Song,  Tennyson,  200 

Bunner,  E.  C.    Old  Song,  210 

But  sirrah,  Shakespeare  (Ext.), 
304 

Byron,  Lord.  Adieu,  adieu 
(Ext.),  62;  Far  along  (Ext), 
392 

Calm  on  the  bosom  of  thy  God, 
Hemans  (Ext.),  202 

Calm  soul  of  all  things,  Arnold 
(Ext.),  264 

Canton,  Wm.  Heights  and 
depths,  358 

Carlyle.  In  a  valiant  suffering 
(Ext.),  366;  Wise  of  a  wis- 
dom (Ext.),  no 

Charge,  Chester,  charge, 
Scott  (Ext.),  28 

Cheerfulness,  Whipple,  215 

Christmas  at  Fezziwig's, 
Dickens,  145 

Clemens,  S.  L.  (Mark  Twain). 
The  Coyote,  254 

Coleridge.  Maid  of  my  love 
(Ext.),  382;  Rise,  oh,  ever 
rise  (Ext),  390;  poem  on, 
Hellman,  155;  Ye  ice-falls! 
(Ext.),  326 

Come  and  trip  it,  Milton  (Ext.), 

367 

Come  back,  come  back,  Macau- 
lay  (Ext),  295 


Come,  boys,  come   out   (Ext.), 

202 
Come,  come,  from  the  fortresses, 

Schuyler  (Ext.),  202 
Come!  let  us  go,  Henley  (Ext.), 

28. 
Come,     live     and     be     merry, 

Blake  (Ext),  193 
Come,  live  with   me,  Marlowe 

(Ext.),    202 

Come,  shoulder  to  shoulder, 
Morris  (Ext.),  30 

Come  wealth  or  want,  Thack- 
eray (Ext.),  253 

Common  Wealth,  Tadema,  192 

Conditions  and  speech,  Ex.  86, 
291;  conditions  of  vibra- 
tion, II.,  Ex.  66,  197;  sustain- 
ing of,  267-268 

Consistency  and  unity,  438- 
441 

Consonants,  409-411 

Contrast,  examples  for,  28 

Contrasts  in  realization,  Ex.,  99, 
389 

Conversational  form,  Ex.,  80, 
249 

Coolbreth,  Ina  Donna,  Sing 
loud  (Ext),  259 

Co-ordination,  discovery  of,  17, 
18;  proved  by  observation, 
19-24;  of  preparatory  actions, 
L,  Ex.,  40, 134;  of  preparatory 
actions,  II.,  Ex.,  44,  139;  se- 
quence of,  Ex.,  42,  135;  res- 
piratory and  pharyngeal,  79- 
166;  respiratory  and  pharyn- 
geal, L,  Ex.,  41,  135;  respira- 
tory and  pharyngeal,  II.,  Ex., 
43>  137;  respiratory  and 
pharyngeal,  HI.,  Ex.,  46,  141 ; 
respiratory  and  pharyngeal, 
IV.,  Ex.,  47,  143;  respiratory 
and  pharyngeal  V.,  Ex.,  55, 163 

Cornwall,  Barry.  Sound,  sound 
the  horn  (Ext),  367 

Correlation  of  voice  and  body, 
L,Ex.,  27;  H.,  Ex.,  23,  30 


INDEX 


449 


Cowper.  Absence  of  occupa- 
tion (Ext.),  388 

Coyote,  The,  Clemens  (Mark 
Twain),  254 

Creation's  heir  (Ext.),  367 

Crosby,  Ernest.  No  one  could 
tell  me  (Ext.),  253 

Daisy,  The,  Rodd,  55 

Dante.     In  His  will  (Ext.),  367 

Darwin.    Roll  on,  ye  stars  (Ex.), 

205 

Davidson,  John.  The  thresher 
with  his  flail  (Ext.),  77; 
Weave  the  dance  (Ext.),  200 

Dead  Church,  Kingsley,  203 

Dear  Master,  Shakespeare 
(Ext.),  373 

Diaphragm  and  vocal  bands,  co- 
ordination of,  167—215 

Dickens,  Charles.  Christmas 
at  Fezzi wig's,  145 

Did  not  great  Julius,  Shake- 
speare (Ext.),  250 

Dignity  and  repose  in  breath- 
ing, Ex.,  34,  117 

Do  not  look  (Ext.),  264 

Eagle,  Tennyson,  58 

Ear,  training  of,  220,  222;  pos- 
sibility of  developing,  222- 
226 

Ease  in  production  of  notes, 
268,  271 

Education  of  the  inspiratory 
muscles,  Ex.,  57,  178;  of 
points  of  resonance,  Ex.,  96, 
349 

Elasticity,  386-394 

Elementary  textures  of  the 
voice,  I.,  Ex.,  100,  391 ;  II., 
Ex.,  101,  392 

Eliot,  George.  No  great  deed 
(Ex.),  367 

Emerson,  Ralph  Waldo.  Be- 
loved of  children  (Ext.),  102; 
I  do  not  count  the  hours 
(Ext.),  305;  Rhodora,  418; 


'T  is  man's  perdition  (Ext.), 
367;  When  a  man  lives  with 
God  (Ext.),  375 

Emotion,  gamut  of,  365-370; 
positive  and  negative,  350- 

365 
Emotional  control  of  breath,  I., 

Ex.,  22,97;  II.,  Ex.,  23,98 
Emphasis  and  range   of  voice, 

Ex.,  84,  264 
Endurance  and  control  of  breath, 

Ex.,  24,  98 
Epictetus  (Ext),  391 
Exercises,    classes    of,    69-78; 

relation    to    training,    48-53; 

how  a  natural  action  may  be 

turned  into,  54-58 

Fairy  Slumber  Song,  347 
Far  along,  Byron  (Ext.),  392 
Fairies'  Song,  Shakespeare,  347 
Faults     of    voice,     pharyngeal, 

145-165 
Feeling,  education  of,  358-359; 

and  vibration,  182,  204 
Ficke,  Arthur  D.     The  Oracle, 

253 

Flexibility,  development  of,  328- 
330;  nature  and  causes  of, 
313;  of  breathing,  Ex.,  31, 
no;  of  soft  palate,  Ex.,  54, 

159 

Flight  of  time,  Percival,  178 
Flower   in   the    crannied    wall, 

Tennyson  (Ext.),  444 
Follow  light,  Tennyson  (Ext.), 

305 

Fool's  Prayer,  Sill,  440 
Force  and  Power,  277-296 
Franklin,   Benjamin.     Franklin 

and  the  Gout,  99 
Freedom  of  life  breathing,  Ex., 
30,  109;  of  narial  vibrations, 
I.,  Ex.,  52,  157;  of  narial  vi- 
brations, n.,  Ex.,  53,  158;  of 
sub-vocal  vibrations,  Ex.,  50, 
152;  of  tone,  Ex.,  51,  154;  of 
the  tone  passage,  Ex.,  32, 


45° 


INDEX 


113;   of  tongue  and  pharynx, 

Ex.,  39,  127 
From  that  chamber,    Longfellow 

(Ext.),  394 
Full  fathoms  five,  Shakespeare 

(Ext),  348 
Fundamental    action,    basis    of 

exercise,  91 

Garrison,  Theodosia.     The  Bal- 

lad of  the  Angel,  107 
General  signs  of  progress,  213- 

215 
Good-night,  Dr.  Weir  Mitchell, 

98 
Gradation    of    conditions,    Ex., 

58,  179 
Gray,  Thomas.     Hark!   (Ext.), 


Hark,  Gray  (Ext.),  41 
Hark,  hark,  Scott  (Ext.),  77 
Hark,  hark,  Shakespeare  (Ext.), 

25 

Hark,  hark  to  the  robin  (Ext.), 

247 
Hark,  fast  by  the  window,  Ar- 

nold (Ext.),  46 
Hark!     how    mid    the    revelry, 

Knowles  (Ext),  383 
Harmony  of  respiratory  actions, 

Ex.,  20,  96 
Harmony  of  vibrations,  Ex.,  97, 

350 
Harte,  Bret.    No  danger  to  the 

brave,  430 
Hawthorne,    Nathaniel.      Walk 

up  (Ext),  46 
He  who  hath  a  thousand  friends 

(Ext),  393 
Heartiness  and  control  of  breath, 

Ex.,  25,  100 
Heights    and    Depths,    Canton, 

358 
Hellman,  George  S.    Coleridge, 

155;  Mountain  Verses,  41 
Hemans,    Mrs.      Calm   on   the 

bosom  (Ext.),  202 


Hence,     home!      Shakespeare 

(Ext.),  375 
Henley,  W.  E.    The  Ways  are 

green,  69;    Come,  let  us  go 

(Ext.),  28;  The  Skylark,  393 
Henry  VIII,  Shakespeare  (Ext.), 

95 
Hickey,     Emily     H.       A     Sea 

Story,  38 
Ho,  ho!  (Ext.),  97 
Ho,  Starbuck,  Miller  (Ext.),  295 
Ho,  strike  the  flagstaff,  Macau- 
lay  (Ext. ),  295 
Hoarseness,  205 
Holy,  holy  (Ext.  ),  367 
Home,  366 
Home,      home !       Shakespeare 

(Ext.),  375 
Home  Thoughts  from  Abroad, 

Browning,  95 
Hugo,    Victor.      Thou    deadly 

crater  (Ext),  155 
Hurrah!       Hurrah!       Whittier 

(Ext.),  67 
Huskiness,  206 
Hypothesis,       Preliminary      in 

voice,   17,   18;    necessary  in 

investigations,  14 

I  do  not  count,  Emerson  (Ext.), 

305 
I  go  to  prove  my  soul,  Browning 

(Ext),  115 
I  heard  a  soldier,  Trench  (Ext.), 

235 

I  sprang  to  the  stirrup,  Brown- 
ing (Ext),  no 

I  would  call  (Ext.),  295 

Imagination  and  tone,  Ex.,  94, 

347 

Impression  and  inspiration,  co- 
ordination of,  I.,  Ex.,  26, 
1 02 

Impression  and  inspiration,  co- 
ordination of,  II.,  Ex.,  29,  1 06 

Impression  and  vocal  responses, 
I.,  Ex.,  9,  57;  H.,  Ex.,  10,  62 

Impression,  individualization  of, 


INDEX 


451 


Ex.,  8,  56;  intensity  of,  Ex., 

7,  55 
In  a  valiant  suffering^   Carlyle 

(Ext),  366 

In  His  will,  Dante  (Ext.),  367 
Inflexion,  initiation  of,  Ex.,  62 

189;  and  thinking,  I.,  Ex.,  78, 

246;  II.,  Ex.,  79,  247 
Ingelow,  Jean.    Joy  is  the  grace 

(Ext),  367 
Initiation    of    co-ordination,    I., 

Ex.,  17,  93;  II.,  Ex.,  21,  96 
Initiation  of  inflexion,  Ex.,   62, 

189;  of  tone,  I.,  Ex.,  59,  184; 

H-IIL,  Ex.,  60  and  61,   186; 

IV.,  Ex.,  63,  191;   V.,  Ex.,  65, 

194;  VI.,  Ex.,  104,  417 
Inspiratory   muscles,   education 

of,  Ex.,  57,  178 
Intensity,  297;  and  feeling,  Ex., 

88,304 

Jaw,  the,  120 

Joy  is  not   in   things,  Wagner 

(Ext.),  418 
Joy  is  the  grace,  Ingelow  (Ext.), 

367 

Joy!  joy!  Moore  (Ext.),  62 
Joy,  vocal  effects  of,  193-197 

Kingsley,  Chas.  The  Dead 
Church,  203 

Kingsley,  Henry.  The  Black- 
bird's Song,  272 

Kipling,  Rudyard,  Recessional, 

327 

Knowles,  Sheridan.  Hark! 
(Ext.),  383 

Landor,  Walter  Savage.     Rose 

Aylmar,  135 
Last  Rose  of  Summer,  Moore, 

235 

Law  (Ext.),  393 
Life  and  voice  breathing,  101- 

105 
Life  breathing,  freedom  of,  Ex. 

30,  108 


Life,    I    know    not,    Barbauld 

(Ext.),  164 
Life   is   a   leaf,   Lowell    (Ext.), 

252 
Life  is  real,  Longfellow  (Ext.), 

252 
Lift  up  your  hearts,  Hagedorn 

(Ext),  158 
Lips,  the,  120 
Little  Robin  Redbreast,  56 
Liza  Grape  men  (Ext.),  429 
Longfellow,    Henry    W.      From 

that    chamber    (Ext),    394; 

Life  is  real  (Ext),  252;  Take 

her,  O  bridegroom  (Ext.),  62; 

There    groups    (Ext),    368; 

The  skipper  he  (Ext),  368 
Lost  Chord,  Proctor,  382 
Low    like     another's,     Watson 

(Ext),  306 
Lowell,   J.   R.     Life  is   a  leaf 

(Ext),  252;   They  are  slaves 

(Ext),  28 

Lyric  impressions  and  exalta- 
tion, Ex.  12,  68;  lyric  poetry, 

importance  of,  67 

Macaulay.  Ho,  strike  the  flag- 
staff (Ext),  295;  Come  back, 
(Ext),  295;  They  are  here 
(Ext.),  276 

Maid  of  my  love,  Coleridge 
(Ext),  382 

Man  is  man,  Tennyson  (Ext.), 

367 
Manipulation    and    modulation, 

384-386 
Mark,  mark,  Buchanan  (Ext.), 

62 
Marlowe.     Come  live  with  me 

(Ext),    202 

Marzials,   F.   E.     Two   Sonnet 

Songs,  369 
Massey,  Gerald.   "Ah!  'tis  like 

a  tale"  (Ext.),  292 
Merkel  on  Vocal  Struggle,  86 
Metre,  319-328 
Metre  and  flexibility,  Ex.,  90, 325 


452 


INDEX 


Miller,  Emily  H.  The  Blue- 
bird, 68 

Miller,  Ho  Starbuck  (Ext.),  295 

Milton,  John.  Come  and  trip  it 
(Ext),  367 

Mind,  body  and  voice,  co- 
ordination of,  I.,  Ex.,  6,  45; 
II.,  Ex.,  n,  67;  III.,  Ex.,  13, 

77 
Mind  indirectly  related  to  voice, 

32-45 
Mitchell,  Dr.  Weir.    Goodnight, 

98 
Modulations     and     conditions, 

296-312 
Modulations  distinguished  from 

conditions,  37-44 
Moore,    Thomas.      Joy!     joy! 

(Ext.),  62 ;  Last  Rose  of  Sum- 
mer, 235 
Morris,  Wm.     Come,  shoulder 

to  shoulder  (Ext.),  30 
Motive  power  of  voice,  79—87 
Motor  action,  freedom  of,  Ex.,  16, 

92 

Mountain  Verses,  Hellman,  41 
Movement,  330 
My  Bed,  Stevenson,  56 
My  Garden,  Brown,  248 

Narial  vibrations,  Ex.,  95,  349; 

freedom  of,  L,  Ex.,  52,  157; 

II.,  Ex.,  53,  158 
Nasality,  155-165 
Nature  and  art,  qualities  of, 

434 
Neidhardt,  John  G.     On  First 

Seeing  the  Ocean,  58;    The 

Battle  Cry,  117 
Nesbit,  E.    The  Star,  443 
No,   ah   no!    Browning   (Ext.), 

104 
No  danger  to  the  brave,  Harte, 

430 
No   great   deed,   Eliot    (Ext.), 

367 
No  one  could  tell  me,  Crosby 

(Ext),  253 


Now  men  of  death,  Scott  (Ext.), 
304 

O  God  Almighty,  Tennyson 
(Ext),  307 

O  God,  have  mercy,  Whittier 
(Ext.),  307 

O  lark  of  the  summer  morning, 
292 

O  larks,  sing  out  (Ext.),  259 

O,  lift  me  as  a  wave,  Shelley 
(Ext),  304 

O  music,  Richter  (Ext.),  96 

Observation  and  comparison, 
19-24 

Oh,  at  the  eagle's  height, 
Russell  (Ext.),  445 

Oh,  gentle  rose  (Ext),  392 

Oh,  maid  of  the  mountain  (Ext.), 
389 

Old  Song,  Bunner,  210 

Om,  a  Memory,  Russell,  351 

On  First  Seeing  the  Ocean, 
Neidhardt,  58 

Openness  of  vowel  chambers, 
Ex.,  103,  416 

Oracle,  The,  Ficke,  253 

Our  hearts,  our  hopes,  Long- 
fellow (Ext),  157 

Over  hill,  over  dale,  Shake- 
speare (Ext),  324 

Overtones,  334 

Passivity,  204 

Pater,  Walter.  All  art  consists 
(Ext),  367 

Peace,  Ruskin,  46 

Peace  beginning  to  be,  Arnold 
(Ext),  142 

Percival,  J.  G.  Flight  of  time, 
178 

Pharyngeal  muscles,  repose  of, 
Ex.,  49,  151 

Pharynx,  the,  126-128 

Pirate  Story,  Stevenson,  no 

Positive  conditions  of  vibra- 
tion, Ex.  69,  209 

Pour,  pour,  Niagara  (Ext.),  391 


INDEX 


453 


Preparatory  actions  and  condi- 
tions, co-ordination  of,  134 

Preparation  and  conversational 
form,  Ex.,  83,  261 

Preparatory  actions,  co-ordina- 
tion of,  I.,  Ex.,  40,  134;  II., 
Ex.,  44,  139 

Primary  response,  I.,  Ex.,  i,  24 

Primary  vibrations,  167-179 

Principles,  13-45 

Problems  for  centralizing  breath, 

93 

Proctor,  Adelaide  A.  Lost  Chord 
382 

Realization   and   texture,   379- 

384 
Realization,    degrees    of,    388- 

394 

Recessional,  Kipling,  327 

Recoil  from  voice  to  life  breath- 
ing, Ex.,  28,  104 

Relation  of  color  to  form,  354- 
358 

Repose  of  pharyngeal  muscles, 
Ex.,  49,  151 

Repose  of  tongue,  I.,  Ex.,  35, 
122;  II.,  Ex.,  36,  123;  III., 
Ex.,  37,  124 

Release  of  voice  conditions,  Ex., 
27,  103 

Respiratory  and  pharyngeal  co- 
ordination, I.,  Ex.,  41,  135; 
H.,  Ex.,  43,  137;  in.,  Ex.,  46, 
141 ;  IV.,  Ex.,  47,  143 ;  V.,  Ex., 
55,  163 

Rest,  rest,  Shakespeare  (Ext.), 
376 

Retention  of  breath,  I.,  Ex.,  18, 
94;  H,  Ex.,  19,  94 

Rhodora,  Emerson,  418 

Rhys,  Ernest.    White  Roses,  106 

Rhys,  Grace.  The  Bells  of  St. 
John,  346 

Rhythm,  317-319;  faults  of, 
105 

Rhythmic    flexibility,    Ex.,   91, 


Richter,  O  music!  (Ex.),  96 
Rise,  oh,   ever  rise,   Coleridge 

(Ext.),  390 
Rise,  rise  (Ext.),  164 
Rodd,  Rennell.    The  Daisy,  55 
Roll  on,  ye  stars,  Darwin  (Ext.), 

295 

Roll,  roll  (Ext.),  391 
Rose  Aylmar.     Landor,  135 
Rosas,  Jose.    Upon  the  valley's 

lap  (Ext.),  229 
Rossetti,    Christina    G.      Bird 

Raptures,  165 
Ruskin,  John.    Peace,  46 
Russell,    George   W.    (A.    E.). 

Oh,    at    the    eagle's    height 

(Ext),  445;  Om,  A  Memory, 

35i 

Saxe,  John  G.    The  Blind  Men 

and  the  Elephant,  250 
Schuyler,  Lydia.     Come,  come 

from  the  fortress  (Ext.),  202 
Scientific  method  explained,  13, 

14 

Scott,  Sir  Walter.  Charge, 
Chester  (Ext.),  28;  Hark, 
hark  (Ext.),  77;  Now  men  of 
death  (Ext.),  304 

Sea  Story,  Hickey,  38 

Secondary  vibrations,  develop- 
ment of,  341-352 ;  expressive 
functions  of,  352-370 

Send  us  your  prisoner,  Shake- 
speare (Ext.),  375 

Sensation,  212 

Sense  of  inflexions  and  intervals, 
Ex.,  70-74,  226 

Sense  of  quality,  229 

Sense  of  variation  in  pitch,  226- 
229 

Sense  of  vocal  form,  Ex.,  75,  229 

Sequence  of  co-ordination,  Ex., 
42,  135 

Shakespeare.  But  surah  (Ext.), 
304;  Did  not  great  Julius 
(Ext.),  250;  Fairies'  Song, 
347;  Full  fathoms  five  (Ext.), 


454 


INDEX 


348;  Hark,  hark  (Ext.),  25; 
Hence,  home  (Ext),  375; 
Henry  VIII  (Ext),  95; 
Over  hill,  over  dale  (Ext.), 
324;  Rest,  rest  (Ext.),  376; 
Send  us  your  prisoner  (Ext.), 
375;  The  cloud-capped  (Ext), 
295;  The  man  that  hath 
(Ext.),  230;  The  spirit  tor- 
ments me  (Ext),  381 

Shelley,  Percy  B.  Oh,  lift  me 
(Ext.),  304 

Shock  of  the  glottis,  182 

Should  speech  and  song  be 
studied  together,  236-242 

Sill,  Edward  Rowland.  Fool's 
prayer,  440 

Sing  loud,  oh  bird,  Coolbreth 
(Ext),  259 

Sleep,  soldiers,    Taylor    (Ext.), 

393 
Soft      palate,     the,      124-126; 

agility  of,  Ex.,  38,  125;    flexi- 
bility of,  Ex.,  54,  159 
Song,  agility  in,  266,  276 
Sound  waves,   height   of,  277- 

332;      length     of,     217-277; 

shape  of,  333~399 
Sound,  nature  of,  168^-170 
Sound,  sound  the  horn,  Corn- 
wall (Ext.),  367 
Speak  to  Him,  Tennyson  (Ext.), 

388 

Special  test  of  the  senses,  211 
Speech  elements  and  symbols, 

402-405 
Speech,     faults     of,     423-430; 

nature   of,   399-430;    organs 

of,  400 
Spontaneity,      435~438;       and 

unity,  Ex.,  105,  439 
Stafford,       Wendell       Phillips. 

Athens  and  Sparta,  143 
Stevenson,  Anna  G.     Ye  hold 

me  not  (Ext),  392 
Stevenson,  Robert  L.     My  Bed, 

56;    Pirate  Story,   no;    The 

Wind,  138 


Strength  and  initiation,  Ex.,  85, 

288 
Sub-vocal    vibrations,    freedom 

of,  Ex.,  50,  152 

Summer  Moon,  Buchanan,  204 
Support  and  projection,  Ex.,  87, 

294 

Surrender,  sense  of,  131-133 
Sweet  and  low,  Tennyson  (Ext), 

163 
Symons,  Arthur.     A  little  hand 

(Ext),  352 

Tadema,  Lawrence  Alma.  Com- 
mon Wealth,  192 

Take  her,  O  bridegroom,  Long- 
fellow (Ext.),  62 

Technical  elements,  70-72 

Tennyson.  Bugle  Song,  200; 
Flower  in  the  Crannied  Wall 
Ext.),  443;  Follow  Light 
Ext.),  305;  Man  is  man 
Ext.),  367;  O  God  Almighty 
Ext),  307;  Speak  to  Him 
Ext.),  388  ;  Sweet  and  Low 
Ext),  163;  The  Eagle,  58; 
The  Peak  is  high  (Ext.),  444; 
There  rolls  the  deep  (Ext.), 
393;  Thy  voice  is  heard 
(Ext),  143 

Tests  of  normal  and  abnormal 
qualities,  210-215 

Texture,  371-386 

Thackeray.  Come  wealth  or 
want  (Ext.),  253 

The  Bells  of  St.  John,  Rhys, 
346 

The  Bridegroom  hi  his  robe, 
Buchanan  (Ext.),  331 

The  cloud-capped  towers,  Shake- 
speare (Ext),  295 

The  Frontiersman,  Wightman,  41 

The  good  shepherd,  St.  John 
(Ext),  250 

The  man  that  hath  no  music, 
Shakespeare  (Ext.),  230 

The  night  is  mother,  Whittier 
(Ext.),  248 


INDEX 


455 


The  peak  is  high,  Tennyson 
(Ext.),  444 

The  sea,  the  sea  (Ext),  25 

The  skipper,  Longfellow  (Ext.), 
368 

The  Skylark,  Henley,  393 

The  spirit  torments  me,  Shake- 
speare (Ext.),  381 

The  Star,  Nesbit,  443 

The  thresher  with  his  flail, 
Davidson  (Ext.),  77 

The  ways  are  green,  Henley,  69 

There  groups  of  merry  children, 
Longfellow  (Ext.),  368 

There  rolls  the  deep,  Tennyson 
(Ext),  393 

They  are  here,  Macaulay  (Ext.), 
276 

They  are  slaves,  Lowell  (Ext.), 
28 

Thinking  and  feeling  in  song 
and  speech,  Ex.,  77,  234 

Thinking  and  voice  conditions, 
Ex.,  5,  40 

Thinking  and  voice  modula- 
tions, Ex.,  4,  38 

Thou  deadly  crater,  Hugo  (Ext.), 

155 

Throatiness,  150-155 
Thy  voice  is  heard,  Tennyson 

(Ext),  143 
'Tis  man's  perdition,   Emerson 

(Ext.),  367 
Tone,  freedom  of,   I.,  Ex.,  51, 

154;     initiation   of,    184—189; 

projection  of,  279-286 ;  purity 

of,  172;   support  of,  286-295; 

weakness  of,  310-312 
Tone   passage,  action   of  parts 

of,  130;  freedom  of,  129-145; 

freedom  of,  in  breathing,  Ex., 

32,  "3 

Tone  and  body,  374-379 
Tongue  and  pharynx,  freedom 

of,  Ex.,  39,  127 
Tongue,    the,    122-124;   repose 

of,  I.,  Ex.,  35, 122 ;  II.,  Ex.,  36, 

123;  IH.,  Ex.,  37,  124 


Training,  nature  of,  47-78 
Transcendence     of     conditions 

over  modulations,  I.,  Ex.,  67, 

199;    II.,  Ex.,  92,  343;    HI., 

Ex.,  93,  345 
Trench,    Herbert.      I    heard   a 

soldier  (Ext),  235 
Trowbridge,  J.  T.    Ah,  a  happy 

may  (Ext),  100 
Two  prisoners  looked  out  (Ext.), 

58 
Two    sonnet    songs,    Marzials, 

369 

Unity  of  forces,  Ex.  33,  115 
Upon   the   valley's   lap,   Rosas 
(Ext),  229 

Vibration,  conditions  of,  H.,  Ex., 
66,  197;  delicacy  of,  199-203; 
faults  of,  204-209;  initiation 
of,  180-192 

Vibrations,  secondary,  333~34i; 
sympathetic,  335-338 ;  in 
song,  394-399 

Vocal  bands,  vibrational  func- 
tions of,  170—172 

Vocal  quantity  and  pronuncia- 
tion, 4197423 

Voice,  agility  of,  hi  speaking, 
242-266;  flexibility  of,  312- 
333;  is  there  a  science  of, 
14, 17;  range  of,  hi  song,  272; 
276;  range  of,  hi  speech, 
262-266;  and  feeling,  Ex.,  98, 
366 

Voice  and  body,  25-31;  correla- 
tion of,  I.,  Ex.,  2,  27;  H.,  Ex., 

3,30 

Voice  and  mind,  31-45;  modu- 
lations and  conditions,  37^-43 

Volume,  307-309 

Volume  and  intensity,  Ex.,  89, 

309 
Vowels,  186,  405-408 

Wagner.  Joy  is  not  in  things 
(Ext.),  418 


456 


INDEX 


Walk  up,  Hawthorne  (Ext.),  46 

Watson,  Wm.  Low  like  an- 
other's (Ext.),  306 

Weave  the  dance,  Davidson 
(Ext.),  200 

What  May  said  to  December, 
Ambient,  198 

What  ought  not,  Epictetus 
(Ext.),  391 

When  a  man  lives  with  God, 
Emerson  (Ext.),  375 

Whipple,  E.  P.     Cheerfulness, 

215 

White  Roses,  Rhys,  106 
Whitman,  Walt  (Ext.),  346 
Whittier,  John  G.     Barclay  of 

Ury,    309;     Hurrah,    hurrah 


(Ext.),  67;  O  God,  have 
mercy  (Ext.),  307;  The  night 
is  mother  (Ext.),  248 

Why  exercises  should  be 
psychic,  70 

Wightman,  Richard.  The  Fron- 
tiersman, 41 

Wind,  The,  Stephenson,  138 

Wise,  of  a  wisdom  (Ext.), 
Carlyle,  no 

Words  mispronounced,  422 

Ye    hold    me    not,    Stevenson 

(Ext.),  392 
Ye  ice-falls t     Coleridge  (Ext.), 

326 


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